Security officers for hazardous industrial facilities: Validating a perspective system of job-related psychological selection

Any professional activity centres around a person with his/her individual psychological characteristics and possible deviant behaviour. Armed security officers working at hazardous industrial facilities (HIF) may pose a potential threat. The study aimed to improve the system of job-related psychological selection to identify psychological causes behind offences committed by HIF security officers. The criteria underpinning new systems of job-related psychological selection have to be valid. Questions of validity may also arise as regards individual psychodiagnostic tests included in the new system. Professionally important qualities (PIQ) of HIF security officers were identified through a psychographic study and expert interviews with military guards working at critical state facilities. The personality traits identified in those HIF security officers who committed offences were presented as “profiles”. We developed a psychological selection module as the main processing module of the job-related psychological selection system. The module implements basic selection algorithms. The validity of test methods used in the module was assessed in view of their prevalence in traditional approaches to job-related psychological selection of military personnel. The empirical testing of the psychological selection module was carried out during the recruitment of HIF security officers. The next phase of the study is to complete reliabilit