It was seriously frightening to read in ‘The West’ the other day that over a two year period 38 weapons had been discovered at Australian airports after supposedly high-quality screening had failed to detect them. This included a passenger twice (yes that’s right not once) carrying an undetected pistol in their hand luggage on a domestic flight.

In an era of increasing fear and red alerts pertaining to the threat of global terrorist acts WHY do these things happen? Put simply, HUMAN ERROR. While we may have, according to the aviation experts, highly sophisticated screening technology at Australian airports, no amount of equipment or technology can account for the fact that people make mistakes. In some cases these mistakes could cause a loss of many lives.

So, WHAT can be reasonably done to address this issue of human error? All security staff that are employed to detect these potential hazards are presumably well trained and are clear on the requirement of the job. Further training is unlikely to address what is effectively an issue of concentration, focus, and NOTICING the small (but critically important) things in the job. In essence that means placing a high value on not missing anything.

Therefore rather than try and train employees to, or request they realign their values, surely it is more efficient, cost effective and SAFER, to recruit employees who intuitively place a high value on noticing the small things that can become a big deal.

The Judgment Index is a 15 minute assessment that screens, with a high degree of accuracy, for employees who value these things and will ultimately make good decisions even when under pressure.