Economic approach to cognition (AEC) in work safety

Abstract This article presents a new approach on human cognition in work activity: an economic approach to cognition (EAC). Workers share a common world in which they understand and act in tune. This common world is called Umwelt or genus. An external observer does not have the same vision and the same understanding of the workers in his Umwelt. This explains the lack of understanding of an accident at work. Another point addressed was the three-level model of behavior (knowledge, rules and skills) proposed by Rasmussen. We affirm that this model is incorrect because the action occurs with the simultaneous presence of the three levels, horizontally, and not the hierarchical form proposed by this author.