In sectors such as the police or transport, being attentive and identifying and correcting errors is crucial. A new model developed supports the evaluation of these skills. Whether in hospitals, aviation or nuclear power plants, safety is the top priority in so-called high reliability organisations (HROs). A chain of even the smallest errors can have significant implications. Employees need specific skills in order to fulfil the high requirements. A team from the ZHAW Institute of Applied Psychology (IAP) has developed a model that describes the five most important safety-related basic competencies.

Different characteristics for different roles

The Safe Five model is based on the following five competencies: situation awareness, conformity to rules, critical attitude, readiness to take a stand and capability in an emergency. Depending on the function of the employees, different characteristics are needed. For example, a night watchman needs to be highly attentive to detect irregularities such as an unlocked door. They must strictly follow certain rules but are hardly ever required to take a stand. This differs vastly from a crisis manager who works primarily in emergency situations. They have to remain calm and sometimes even disregard rules.

The questionnaire is freely available

The ZHAW team created a questionnaire to apply the model in practice. It can be used during job interviews or annual performance reviews in addition to already existing sector-specific models. It is freely available and is already being used in a variety of organisations. Nuclear power plants, police forces and railway companies, for example, use the Safe Five model to recruit personnel. Another field of application is the analysis of safety-related incidents and accidents. Safety psychologist Patrick Boss explains that the model could help recognise whether the people involved have insufficient competencies, upon which continuing education could be mandated. “Our model makes the world a little safer”, says the ZHAW researcher.