Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills - Softcover

O'Connor, Paul; Flin, Rhona

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0754646009 ISBN 13: 9780754646006

Publisher: CRC Press, 2013

Synopsis

Many 21st century operations are characterised by teams of workers dealing with significant risks and complex technology, in competitive, commercially-driven environments. Informed managers in such sectors have realised the necessity of understanding the human dimension to their operations if they hope to improve production and safety performance. While organisational safety culture is a key determinant of workplace safety, it is also essential to focus on the non-technical skills of the system operators based at the 'sharp end' of the organisation. These skills are the cognitive and social skills required for efficient and safe operations, often termed Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills. In industries such as civil aviation, it has long been appreciated that the majority of accidents could have been prevented if better non-technical skills had been demonstrated by personnel operating and maintaining the system. As a result, the aviation industry has pioneered the development of CRM training. Many other organisations are now introducing non-technical skills training, most notably within the healthcare sector. Safety at the Sharp End is a general guide to the theory and practice of non-technical skills for safety. It covers the identification, training and evaluation of non-technical skills and has been written for use by individuals who are studying or training these skills on CRM and other safety or human factors courses. The material is also suitable for undergraduate and post-experience students studying human factors or industrial safety programmes.

About this title

About the Author

Rhona Flin (BSc, PhD Psychology) is Professor of Applied Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Aberdeen, UK. She is a Chartered Psychologist, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Paul O'Connor (BSc, MSc, PhD Psychology) has carried out human factors research in a number of high risk industries and the military. Margaret Crichton (MA, MSc, PhD Psychology) is a Chartered Psychologist and founder of People Factor Consultants Ltd. She has published in both academic and industry journals.

Review

'The text is lively and well illustrated with relevant figures and tables. Very interesting, informative and exploratory, it manages to balance the strictly technical and the non-technical with a welcome sense of humour and a refreshing degree of caring sensitivity to human rights and behaviour. Another Ashgate book which opens doors for new solutions to old and new safety problems.' --The RoSPA Occupational Safety & Health Journal, May 2008

Edition details

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0754646009
• ISBN 13: 9780754646006
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336