False confidence in safety is a risk.

In many workplaces, we confuse having a certificate with having competence.

A card or licence can prove attendance — it doesn’t prove judgment, verified experience for the task, or the ability to manage changing risk.

False confidence often looks like:

1. Considerable certainty, little curiosity
2. Policing people instead of understanding the work
3. Generic checklists instead of task-specific controls
4. Overreliance on PPE, underinvestment in planning and supervision
5. Defensiveness when challenged
6. Inability to clearly communicate risk upward to top management
7. Can’t problem-solve in the field when plans change

Good safety leadership is different:

✅ has verified, relevant experience for the work being supervised

✅ asks better questions and walks the job

✅ listens to the people doing the work

✅ explains the “why” and builds practical controls

✅ can problem-solve in real time without creating new risk

✅ can brief both the shop floor and senior leaders

✅ is comfortable saying, “I’m not sure — let’s verify.”

We don’t need louder safety voices. We need more competent ones.