George Robotham Social Psychology of Risk

Psychometric Testing and Safety

ByGeorge Robotham
3 Comments

Psychometric Testing and Safety

Having had some exposure to the area, some of the problems I see with psychometric testing include-

  • There is often a big gap between the test and the real world of work.
  • Behaviour is situational. Often in these tests you are given black and white scenarios to comment on and no allowance is made for intelligent and mature reasoning and adaptability.
  • Often it is easy to figure out what will be a good response from the sponsoring organisations perspective.
  • There was discussion about a particular commercial safety assessment instrument on LinkedIn OHS forums recently. I think it is fair to say the instrument was savaged by a number of experienced OHS people. Complaints were numerous and considerable. The organisation sponsoring the test instrument failed to supply credible justification when questioned.
  • I recently completed a safety test instrument and thought it was quite a joke.
  • It is very much rooted in an outdated behaviourist approach to safety which brings considerable limitations.
  • Questions are simplistic, given time my red cattle dog Rusty could answer the questions. You have to bear in mind Rusty is smarter than most people I know.
  • It makes no account for modern OHS practice.
  • Individuality and creativity are not valued.
  • With many questions it is easy to figure out what a desirable response will be eg. On a safety assessment do you really think people would admit to indulging in high risk behaviour?
  • It is all about compliance with narrow rules rather than questioning the status quo and practicing innovation.
  • It seems to be promoting the view that the desired employee is compliant, obedient and unthinking.
  • There was no focus on the important area of safety learning.
  • The focus was on the behaviour of individuals, obviously only part of what is required to manage safety.
  • One highly educated and experienced OHS professional in my circle commented the test is delusional and dangerous.
  • I suppose this test is a good way to separate the gullible from some large amounts of money.

Readers are advised to refer to Dr. Robert Long’s paper Safety Eugenics and the Engineering of Risk Aversion, 24 December, 2012.

Well there are my, admittedly fairly uneducated thoughts, on psychometric testing and safety.

George Robotham

George Robotham

George was a Legend in the Safety World who passed away in Sept 2013 but left us with a great legacy
George Robotham
I have worked in OHS for most of my working life, many years in the mining industry including over 10 years in a corporate OHS role with BHP. Since leaving the mining industry I have worked in a variety of safety roles with a variety of employers, large & small, in a variety of industries. I was associated with my first workplace fatality at age 21, the girl involved was young, intelligent, vivacious and friendly. Such a waste! I was the first on the scene and tried to comfort her and tend to her injuries. She said to me “George, please do not let me die” We put her on the aerial ambulance to Rockhampton base hospital where she died the next day. I do not mind telling you that knocked me around for awhile. Since then I have helped my employers cope with the aftermath of 12 fatalities and 2 other life-altering events. The section "Why do Occupational Health & Safety" provides further detail but in summary, poor safety is simply very expensive and also has a massive humanitarian cost. My qualifications include a certificate I.V. in Workplace Training and Assessment, a Diploma in Frontline Management, a Diploma in Training & Assessment Systems, a Bachelor of Education (Adult & Workplace Education) , a Grad. Cert. in Management of Organisational Change and a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Hazard Management. I am currently studying towards a Masters in Business Leadership. Up until recently I had been a Chartered Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia for 10 years and a member for about 30 years. My interest is in non-traditional methods of driving organisational change in OHS and I have what I believe is a healthy dis-respect for many common approaches to OHS Management and OHS Training. I hold what I believe is a well-founded perception that many of the things safety people and management do in safety are “displacement activities” (Displacement activities are things we do, things we put a lot of energy into, but which when we examine them closely there is no valid reason for doing them). My managerial and leadership roles in OHS have exposed me to a range of management techniques that are relevant to Business Improvement. In particular I am a strong supporter of continuous improvement and quality management approaches to business. I believe leadership is the often forgotten key to excellence in most aspects of life. I hold the Australian Defence Medal and am a J.P.(Qualified). I have many fond memories of my time playing Rugby Union when I was a young bloke.

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