Marieke Bleyenbergh at SOTE26: Why We Struggle to Admit Mistakes at Work

At Safety on the EDGE 2026, Scott Cuthbert sat down with Marieke Bleyenbergh, founder of Be Human Be Safe and former Global Director of HSE at AkzoNobel and Shell. They dug into a question every safety leader runs into: why is it so hard for people to admit their mistakes? In this short interview, Marieke breaks down what actually blocks honest reporting and what leaders can do about it. 🔹 We are conditioned from childhood. We got praised for behaving well and for good results, and some of us got punished when we did something wrong. We carry that programming straight into the workplace. 🔹 So when we ask people to just report it when something goes wrong, the ask sounds simple, but the conditioning underneath makes it hard. To move safety forward, we have to learn from mistakes before something serious happens. 🔹 It starts with leaders. If you want your frontline to admit mistakes, you have to show the humility yourself first. In Marieke's words, we need to start with ourselves. If you lead safety, manage risk, or sit anywhere in EHS, this one is worth a few minutes of your day. 🎟️ Want to hear more from Marieke? She also takes the stage at our partner event Safety Connect 2026, October 20 to 22. Register here: https://register.safetyconnect365.com... 🔔 Subscribe for more interviews, keynotes, and field-tested insights from the Safety on the EDGE stage. #SafetyOnTheEDGE #SafetyConnect #SafetyLeadership #SafetyCulture #EHS #WorkplaceSafety