Institutionalized unsafe and careless behavior can be demonstrated by:

• A lack of regard for safe workplace practices and national standards,
• A high number of incidents involving injuries and accidents,
• Praise and admiration of individuals or groups who demonstrate risky and unsafe behavior, and
• No penalty or punishment for risky and unsafe behavior.

How big of a role could a firefighter duty-to-die syndrome play in current line-of-duty deaths? For some it may be significant to minimal, while for others it may be completely nonexistent. For those departments that demonstrate a lackadaisical attitude toward safety in the workplace and view risky behavior as courageous and brave, the effects of FDTDS can be increased and dependant on the level of acceptance of the culture. To discover what is at the root of these behaviors, one must look at how the mind works.

All drives and motivation by the conscious or subconscious are either inherent or learned. Those that are inherent are biological in nature. These drives occur when the brain receives signals from the body during physiological shifts away from homeostasis. One example is when low blood sugar causes hunger impulses to be sent to the brain. This drive will intensify until it is met, at which point it will reset. Learned drives are developed over time and are sociological in nature. Generally with sociological drives, each rewarding experience or avoidance of punishment in satisfying the drive will increase it in intensity.

Firefighters who develop an internal drive to take unnecessary risks to reach some level of satisfaction fall into the sociological category. The key to this behavior increasing or decreasing is the reward or lack thereof. If a firefighter drives recklessly but is later praised for his quick response, the chances are increased that he will repeat the behavior. Additionally, if the same firefighter is demonstrating this behavior to avoid a negative consequence, such as getting a hard time for being the last to arrive, the same motivation prevails and encourages repeat behavior.

Firefighters who are praised for unsafe actions often rely on the ends to justify the means. If a victim was rescued and the fire extinguished, these firefighters believe their dangerous behavior is irrelevant, even if performing the task in a safer manner would have produced the same results. Some rely on the results to deflect attention from any unsafe action that they took. Sooner or later the end will not justify the means, such as when a firefighter dies in a vacant house fire. The odds of tragedy are increased by the syndrome's snowballing effect.

In most cases a desired reward will not come as quickly or as often if the behavior is repeated at the same level. FDTDS may lead firefighters to cross the line sooner and go deeper into an unsafe situation to reach a level of satisfaction. It simply becomes a law of scientific probabilities: The more opportunities a firefighter is exposed to increasingly unsafe situations, the more likely a negative consequence will result.