The normalization of deviance

Safety rules are usually set for a good reason. Some might not be that good and need to be adjusted after careful evaluation. However if a safety margin in set there for a reason, don't bend the rules! Sometimes safety margins are crossed and nothing went wrong. Enforce safety rules and safety margin. If you don't, the fine line between safe and unsafe become blurry and shifts. If you move the safety margin instead you might end up using all the safety margin and have a accident.

There is a term for this 'The normalization of deviance" and is defined as: “The gradual process through which unacceptable practice or standards become acceptable. As the deviant behavior is repeated without catastrophic results, it becomes the social norm for the organization.”

This caused the NASA space shuttle Challenger explosion, because they moved the safety rule on there minimum temperature of o-rings, instead of enforcing a safety rule. In aerospace also know as go-fever; getting things done in a hurry despite high risks.

This does not only apply to NASA or other big origination, but also to you. Not wearing proper PPE(Personal protective equipment), driving through red lights, etc. Do it once and you will do it again and probably worse. Know what you are doing, be aware of the normalization of deviance and try to prevent this from causing problems.

Some interesting reads:
http://theemtspot.com/2009/10/03/the-normalization-of-deviance/

http://lmcontheline.blogspot.nl/2013/01/the-normalization-of-deviance-if-it-can.html