Non-Technical Skills

Safety critical tasks require knowledge, technical skills and non-technical skills (NTS) such as maintaining concentration and checking. NTS underpin and enhance technical tasks and improve safety by helping people to anticipate, identify and mitigate against risks and errors.

The integration of non-technical skills (NTS) helps individuals undertake technical tasks safely, efficiently and reliably to mitigate risks and errors. These documents are aimed at operational managers and explain how NTS can be integrated throughout competence management systems.

Summary guide to integrating NTS

Good Practice Guide to Integrating NTS

Non-technical skills (NTS) help in anticipating, preventing and managing risks. Here we provide resources to reinforce, measure and provide feedback on NTS.

A selection of resources to support drivers in evaluating their Non-Technical Skills.

Frontline staff logbooks 

Frontline staff self-evaluation

The industry has made great strides in understanding, developing, and integrating non-technical skills (NTS). Here we provide learning material to develop NTS in safety critical roles, other than drivers.

A series of non-rail case studies which demonstrate the importance of non-technical skills. These can be used to train and raise awareness of NTS as well build a business case for NTS integration.

The Paddington Rail Disaster 

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster 

Just a routine operation 

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster 

Description of SPAD at Tye Green

We have developed two guides aimed to help organisations apply fair culture principles and non-technical skills to the development of competence development plans for drivers, guards and dispatchers.

Competence Development Guide for Dispatchers and Guards

Supporting a fair culture CDP guidance