The OPC

The Psychological Profiling of a Rail Depot: Understanding the Underlying Causes of Incidents   Psychological Profiling of the Rail Employee to Help Improve Safety    Over many years, the OPC Psychologists have undertaken over 600 psychological profiles of rail employees involved in safety of the line incidents for which they were wholly or partially responsible. Our first aim is to understand the psychological factors that might have contributed to the incident. The second aim is to take the learning and to help the employees return to work and stay safe using a bespoke Non-Technical Skills development plan. Over the years, we have learnt so much about why rail employees have safety incidents.   Using Psychological Profiling of a Rail Organisation, Depot, or Team to Help Improve Safety    We also apply the same psychological profiling to organisations, departments, depots, and teams, who are experiencing a rise in safety incidents amongst their rail employees. We aim to broaden our psychological enquiry to gain an understanding of the organisational, cultural, and human factors that may have contributed to these incidents and, most importantly, what we can learn to help improve safety.   A Live Case Study to Help Improve Safety   Dr Stephen Fletcher is currently working with a rail depot that has seen a rise in safety incidents that had the potential to be fatal. He aims to draw up a psychological profile of the depot, understand the potential causes of those incidents, and make recommendations for change. The depot employees have really embraced the profiling exercise, and they have been so helpful and open, with a strong desire to improve. Their key intelligence will help enhance safety. The next steps are to collate all the intelligence and prepare a presentation for feedback, along with recommendations for action. Steve is looking forward to it.

Without exception, every employee is responsible for safety: Safety leadership for senior bus managers and directors Laura Hedley C.Psychol AFBPsS, and Dr Stephen Fletcher had the opportunity to run the first one-day safety leadership workshop with senior managers and leaders of a top bus company. They discussed how everyone, irrespective of their role within the business, with safety-critical responsibilities or not, can have an impact on safety. They talked about safety culture, safety leadership, and delegates had the opportunity to prepare their own safety leadership plans to implement back at work to help improve safety. The workshop was a pleasure to run, and the feedback was positive, with over 78% of delegates rating it as either ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. The OPC will be making a few small tweaks to the workshop in preparation for the second cohort in a few weeks. The Psychologists are really looking forward to it. #safety #bus #safetyleadership #safetyculture  

Bus Driver Managers and Supervisors: Using Safety Leadership and Human Factors to Help Keep Bus Drivers Safe   Over the last few months, we have been running a two-day workshop with Bus Managers and Supervisors for a major UK bus company. Day 1 is focused on safety leadership and the key role they play as leaders in keeping their Bus Drivers safe. We also provide them with survey feedback from their Bus Drivers at their own depots regarding their safety leadership. This feedback has been so powerful in propelling the Managers and Supervisors to prepare their personalised safety leadership action plans. Day 2 is dedicated to human factors and Non-Technical Skills, and the critical role they both play in helping to keep their Bus Drivers safe and incident-free.    The workshops have been an absolute delight to run. The delegates have been so enthusiastic, positive, and open to the workshop - lapping up the learning. The directors have been so supportive of the programme too, with the Operations Director taking time to attend every workshop despite a full work schedule. He receives their feedback and commits to work on key challenges that they face - excellent servant leadership!   Today is the start of the last workshop. I am all set up, ready to roll! I hope they enjoy it. I am hoping to enjoy it too! It will be sad to end the programme tomorrow, but onward and upward!   #bus #safety #safetyleadership #humanfactors #Nontechnicalskills #NTS

Decisions at the Edge: What Rail can Learn From High Altitude Mountaineering The OPC’s Occupational Psychologist Laura Hedley C.Psychol AFBPsS, teams up with record-breaking adventurer and Mountaineer Squash Falconer in the April edition of Rail Professional. They explore what the rail industry can learn about Non-Technical Skills from high altitude mountaineering. The OPC has worked with Squash in the past on a number of rail projects. She is a delight to work with and we have learnt so much from her mountaineering experience and expertise. The article is well worth a read during a tea/coffee break! Thank you to the Rail Professional for publishing the article. https://lnkd.in/evGBeQyS

We’re excited to launch our new workshop, Decisions at the Edge, in collaboration with mountaineer Squash Falconer and the OPC’s Laura Hedley C.Psychol AFBPsS. We have worked with Squash before, and she is a delight to work with! 📅Tuesday 12 May 2026, 9:30 am–4:00 pm Bringing together the OPC’s expert psychologists and Squash’s real-world experience from extreme environments, this interactive one-day session explores how Non-Technical Skills (NTS) help shape decision-making and safety performance under pressure. The workshop offers unique and vivid insights through a distinctive mountaineering perspective. Designed for professionals in rail, rail infrastructure, and other high-risk, safety-critical environments, particularly operational leaders and those responsible for safety and performance. 📍 Leonardo Hotel, Watford 📅 Tuesday 12 May 2026, 9:30 am–4:00 pm 👉 Join us to explore these ideas in practice and see how they can help strengthen safer working behaviours in your organisation. Secure your Early-Bird place today: https://lnkd.in/eZ3hJaZC

Getting Ready to Present to a bus Conference on Human Factors and Non-Technical Skills (NTS) This morning Dr Stephen Fletcher was getting ready to present to over 160 delegates from an overseas bus company on the role human factors and NTS can play in helping to keep their safety-critical employees, including Bus Drivers, Apprentices, and Technicians, safe and effective. The presentation was part of the organisation’s annual safety conference. There was a good mix of frontline personnel, directors, managers, support functions, and supervisors. The CEO led the conference and reinforced the critical importance of safety. Steve talked about what human factors are all about, along with case studies that showed how the application of human factors can help keep bus passengers safe. He then moved on to NTS. He discussed how, when employees demonstrate NTS, it helps keep them safe; when they are absent, they can contribute to safety incidents. Encouraging Delegate Feedback The delegate feedback was very positive. It was a delight for Steve to be invited to attend and to share some of the OPC learning over the past few years. He learnt loads too from the other presenters exploring incident reduction strategies.   A Positive Move Within the Bus Industry As many will know, our specialism as a business is in transport. Over the past few years, it has been really encouraging to see more bus companies embracing human factors and the potential benefits they can bring in helping to improve safety amongst their employees, customers, and road users. We applaud the increasing number of forward-thinking bus leaders who are open to the positive impact psychology could play. 

Trainee Train Drivers to Excel in Training Kristina Aleliunaite and Dr Stephen Fletcher had the opportunity to co-present a workshop on Friday a ‘Training to Learn’ workshop with Trainee Train Drivers for a UK Train Operator. It was the first week of training, and the workshop provided trainees with a toolkit of memory techniques to improve their learning and manage stress and worry. It costs a lot to train each trainee, so we want these trainees to excel in training. The highlight of the day was delegates receiving detailed, in-depth feedback on their assessment tools used in selection. For each assessment tool, delegates were given feedback on their performance and practical ideas to improve still further both in training and on the job.      We have been running this same workshop for many years with different train operators. Hundreds of trainees have taken part. Overall, the feedback is very positive, and this group was positive too - ‘perfect help’, ‘vibrant’,  and ‘incredibly useful’. They were a delight to work with; they were so positive, enthusiastic, and appreciative! Well done Kristina for a job well done!   

Using Psychology to Help Improve the Safety of our Bus Drivers Dr Stephen Fletcher is looking forward to running day 2 of a safety leadership and human factors workshop with managers and supervisors for a major UK bus operator. It is all about exploring how we can use our understanding of safety leadership and human factors to help improve the safety performance of Bus Drivers. This is cohort 4 of 6, and the feedback to date has been really positive. There has been a real thirst from the delegates attending this workshop to understand some of the psychology of bus driver errors. The workshops have been a pleasure to run. #bus #busdrivers #safety #psychology

We're #hiring a new Junior Business Psychologist in Watford, England. Apply today or share this post with your network.

We're #hiring a new Talent Assessor and Office Administrator (Psychometrics) in Watford, England. Apply today or share this post with your network.