Workplace Safety Profile

The Workplace Safety Profile (WSP) is a risk assessment that measures a candidate’s attitudes towards safety.

The results provide a reliable indication of the likelihood that an individual will be involved in accidents or cause injury to themselves or others at work.

The WSP can help organisations reduce the occurrence of workplace incidents and is primarily used for roles where safety behaviour is an important factor. 

When candidates complete the WSP, they indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with each statement. Candidates respond to each question by selecting one of the five options from an agreement scale.

The assessment assesses a variety of beliefs about the self, other people, and the environment. It also assesses the extent to which candidates maybe distorting or faking their responses. 

Assessment questions are streamed in a random order each time a candidate completes the WSP. This feature provides a high level of test security by limiting the likelihood that candidates will be streamed questions in the same order, and reducing the possibility that candidates will collaborate when completing assessments. 

The WSP measures three risk factors:

• Safety Control - The extent to which an individual is likely to take personal responsibility for safety outcomes. Individuals with a high level of safety control believe they can influence whether an accident or injury occurs by the actions they take. These employees are more likely to adopt a proactive approach to safety and follow safety rules and procedures. 
• Risk Aversion - The extent to which an individual is likely to avoid risky behaviour at work. Individuals with a high level of risk aversion are more cautious and careful in their approach to work. They are less likely to find risky activities exciting or thrilling, and are therefore less likely to take risks that lead to accidents and injuries. 
• Stress Management - The extent to which an individual is likely to cope with stress on the job. People with a high level of stress management will cope better with stress and are less likely to be fatigued or distracted at work due to stress. 

Each candidate is given a percentile ranking and an Overall Rating of High, Medium, or Low, based on the risk that the candidate may engage in unsafe behaviour in the workplace. The score reports also provide scores for three sub scores, including, safety control, risk aversion, and stress management. 

We have been using the Workplace Safety Profile from Criteria for many years and we are pleased with the results, as are our clients.



Fermion specialises in psychometric testing for recruitment. Please contact Fermion to discuss how the Typing and/or Data Entry tests, or any other psychometric test, can help with you your recruitment decisions.

About the Author:

Christopher Apps is an Organisational Psychologist and the owner of Fermion. He stays updated on the latest psychology research and shares evidence-based insights. The focus of Fermion is "Psychometric Testing for Recruitment" and “Recruitment to Retention: How to Select Good Staff & Keep Them”. If you would like to learn how to select good staff and keep them, please feel free to contact us at Fermion.

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