Safety Assessment
At Niche we have a rigorous safety assessment that we recommend for organisations to screen potential employees who are in safety critical roles. This report covers 5 potential personality characteristics which can impact on whether a person will act safety at work.
The scales are:
This scale measures how conscientious and disciplined a person is. Low scorers tend to be impulsive and easily distracted which can be a safety issue. High scorers tend to be determined, reliable and are not easily distracted.
This scale measures a person’s willingness to take risks and how conforming they are. Low scorers tend to be rebellious, challenging and they may lack integrity. High scorers tend to be conventional, rule following and dependable.
This scale measures emotional stability and how well an individual handles stressful situations. Low scorers tend to be less resilient and they may regularly experience negative emotions and moods. High scorers tend to be calm, even-tempered, cheerful, and relaxed, as well as being able to handle stressful situations without becoming anxious or upset
This scale measures agreeableness and how helpful and open someone is to others. Low scorers tend to be defensive, intolerant, and sceptical. High scorers tend to be helpful, sympathetic, accommodating, tolerant and eager to please.
This scale measures arrogance levels and how open someone is to feedback. Being arrogant and not listening can have negative safety consequences. Low scorers tend to be overly confident, may not listen well, and may be less willing to admit weaknesses. High scorers tend to be open to feedback, more self-critical, and willing to admit they do not know everything.
In addition, Niche Consulting conducted a safety research project around utilising psychological assessments to predict positive or negative safety attitudes in employees in NZ safety critical roles.
Some of this research was presented by Neisha Voot from Niche Consulting at the Industrial & Organisational Conference in Adelaide in 2007. The Niche Consulting research outcomes are in line with international research in this area.
What are the International Research findings?
- Significant correlations between the negative safety behaviours and low Integrity Test scores
- Significant correlations between the negative safety behaviours and low Conscientiousness on a personality assessment
- Significant correlations between the negative safety behaviours and low Agreeableness on a personality assessment
- Significant correlations between the negative safety behaviours and low Emotional Stability on a personality assessment
Employing the people who will work safetly
Of the many strategies an organisation can utilise to reduce workplace incident, accidents and near misses – one of the easiest to implement is to ensure the organisation selects new personnel who are predisposed to displaying a safety conscious attitude to work.
The research in this area shows that the utilisation of well-designed and robust psychological assessment tools can predict safety outcomes. By carefully screening and selecting safety critical personnel who are likely to act safely an organisation should have strong utility gains in the area of workplace safety.