Knowledge decay is the natural process of forgetting something over time. It happens with everything—from skills that have fallen out of practice to forgetting the names of people you haven’t seen in years or directions to places you haven’t visited in a while. And make no mistake, the consequences of knowledge decay can turn from annoyance to danger when safety skills are on the line.

Humans are narrative beings, and our knowledge fits into the story of our lives. The event of learning something is part of our personal histories. So if you got an A+ in grade 12 math or won a gold medal in track and field in high school, you might define yourself as good with numbers or an excellent long jumper. But as time goes on, the study and practice that helped you achieve those milestones may start to weather. And forgetting how to do long division or how to leap great distances is rarely part of our personal stories. Information loss is something that happens in the background of our lives, and we don’t usually update our personal narratives accordingly. This means that we don’t realize we’ve lost an important memory until it’s time to remember it and we can’t. 

In that sense, knowledge decay is a symptom of complacency, which makes it a dangerous phenomenon in a safety context. If you learned CPR as a camp counselor but never took refresher courses, then there is a good chance that while you might remember some key details, you probably aren’t qualified to administer emergency resuscitation. And by the same token, if you took human factors training at your previous workplace but haven’t kept up the knowledge and skills that help prevent critical errors, you might be operating under the false assumption that you are immune to dangerous states of mind.

Knowledge decay happens in the workplace for a number of reasons that can be difficult to catch, including the following.

1. Lack of practice over time

It’s a law of nature: things become disorganized over time. This includes our memories. As soon as we learn something new, we start to forget important details if we don’t practice what we learned. A recent study of Texas college students showed that significant knowledge decay can occur in as little as three months.

2. Employee turnover

Sometimes knowledge decays on an organizational level. One of the beautiful things about working together is that folks from different backgrounds, with different skillsets and expertise, collaborate to achieve outcomes they couldn’t accomplish alone. But with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting a nationwide turnover of about 5 million people per month, companies need to be careful of the information they lose when someone quits or is laid off. When a member of the team leaves an organization, they take their specialized knowledge with them.

3. Change

Knowledge decay can be accelerated by organizational change. New standards, procedures and systems can all turn knowledge that was previously valid into a safety liability. For instance, if a company acquires a new forklift and it doesn’t have mirrors, but workers are used to operating machines with mirrors, the knowledge they have about using the forklift at work decays significantly.

4. Lack of documentation

Many of the above causes can be exacerbated by a lack of documentation. Individuals falling out of practice, employee turnover and organizational change can all lead to ambiguity, and without an authoritative reference to set them back on the right path, workers are left to figure out what to do based on their best guesses.

Thankfully, knowledge decay isn’t a new problem, and there are many time-tested solutions to keeping critical safety knowledge from slipping out of your workers’ minds. Here are a few best practices for mitigating the impact of knowledge decay in your organization.

• Refresher training

Frequent training and drills are known to improve safety outcomes and to generally improve the workplace. By scheduling annual or biannual refresher courses on key safety skills and combining them with regular practice, you make sure that the knowledge needed to avoid and prevent injuries is easy for workers to remember when they need it.

• Continuous learning

Memory is a muscle, and nothing strengthens your mental fitness better than constantly learning and remembering new things. You can help build a culture of continuous learning in your workplace by offering training on a regular basis. Notify workers about opportunities for skill upgrades, or invest in multi-unit training programs that keep employees in the knowledge acquisition mindset.

Continuous learning cultures don’t have to be fully training focused. Learning-based after-work social activities like pub trivia, sports leagues, and book clubs or discussion groups are all fun ways to keep the people in your workplace engaged with knowledge.

A culture of communication

Those social activities play another role in preventing knowledge decay: they help build a culture of communication in your workplace. Breaking down social barriers and developing a common language through games, sports and shared culture means that individuals will have an easier time sharing their specialized knowledge.

Storytelling is another aspect of a communication culture that can counteract information loss. The narrative power that can make knowledge decay a problem in the first place can be flipped on its head to improve memory. By sharing safety stories in groups or one-on-one interactions and discussing the specifics, you are reinforcing the narratives that help us remember important details that might otherwise degrade over time. Think of storytelling as a form of practice.

Finally, communication doesn’t always need to be spoken. Make sure there are written instructions for processes so that workers aren’t left relying solely on their memories. And try to develop a habit of regularly posting memos and notes about changes in procedures and reminders on important safety considerations. Sometimes, a poster or sign reminding people to keep their eyes on task can be enough to shake them out of complacency.

By actively building a culture of communication and continuous learning, you can do your part in keeping knowledge decay out of your workplace. And to learn about combating more types of complacency, check out the guide: Fighting Familiarity: Overcoming Complacency in the Workplace.