What is SafetyDNA? Select International's team of Industrial-Organizational Psychologists has spent decades researching the psychological traits responsible for individuals' personal safety. Safety
DNA is the groundbreaking concept they developed as a result of this research. It refers to the innate internal traits that everyone possesses to behave safely. These specific characteristics can be grouped under four key traits:
- Control: extent you believe you control future consequences through current actions;
- Awareness: extent you see and remember your surroundings;
- Caution: level of discomfort you feel with risk-taking;
- Rules: degree you follow versus bend rules.
While these traits are universal, they are experienced very differently from person to person.
This means that, for instance, while everyone naturally understands the concept of Control, some are more inclined to exercise Control in their day-to-day choices than others. This doesn't mean that those who are at-risk in any one of those traits are forever exposed to the risks associated with that trait; it simply implies that it will take an intentional effort on their end to avoid exposures associated with this trait. For instance, the worker with an at-risk Rules profile will have to pay closer attention to his actions when climbing a tall ladder than others may, to limit his personal risk. An individual's Safety
DNA Profile conveys this information and informs the individual of potential risk exposures based on natural inclinations. This way, your workers have the information they need to act on their safety behaviors and improve their personal safety.

What is TaskDNA?
While SafetyDNA provides insights into one’s internal safety traits, TaskDNA reveals which trait is most important for an employee to safely complete a task. Specifically, TaskDNA shows the amount and type of internal risk associated with a task. This is important because the risk associated with each task is unique. Some tasks have a higher risk exposure than others, such as hammering a nail or operating a forklift. The red quadrant (Awareness, on the right) alerts employees of the primary risk exposure area associated with one specific task. The other gray quadrants (Control, Caution and Rules) represent the secondary risk exposures of that same task.
What is the relationship between SafetyDNA and TaskDNA?
SafetyDNA and TaskDNA equip all employees to understand their risk exposures as they go about their daily tasks. Using their personal SafetyDNA as a reference, workers decode the changing risk exposures, represented by TaskDNA graphics, in their work environments. Working together, SafetyDNA and TaskDNA make safety personal to help employees understand and notice the hidden risks in their workplace. This is important, as the risk levels vary from person to person. While the task is the same for all workers, the risk is higher for one who is lower in the key Safety Factor for that task. For this reason, comparing the primary risk factor (on TaskDNA) with one's personal SafetyDNA rating in that factor is essential to improve personal safety.
Program Components
What is the SafetyDNA Assessment?
The SafetyDNA Assessment is at the heart of the SafetyDNA Program. Our 30-minute, interactive online assessment is an engaging experience and a validated predictor of safety behavior. Once participants complete the assessment, they receive their results in an easy-to-understand rating for each trait.
What is the SafetyDNA Profile?
The SafetyDNA Profile is the feedback generated for each one of your employees from the SafetyDNA Assessment. An individual’s SafetyDNA Profile is the heart of the Assessment and Development Program: it teaches your workers how their unique safety traits are working to decrease their exposures and how to best leverage them. A careful review of this easy-to-understand report will create a new and lasting approach to safety - one that empowers employees to manage their own safety.
What is the SafetyDNA Training Course?
The SafetyDNA Course provides personal feedback based on Assessment results in a 60-minute online experience. This Course focuses on giving all workers an in-depth understanding of their individual safety traits and actionable recommendations on how to improve their safety behaviors on the job. This interactive course uses advanced online training including simulations, expert videos, narration, and many more features.
What is the SafetyDNA Toolkit? The Safety
DNA Toolkit is a selection of the key tools you need for your workforce to be safe, every day. The items of the Toolkit are the sustainability pieces of the Program – ensuring that the Safety
DNA and Task
DNA concepts are fresh in your workers' minds day after day. The Safety
DNA Toolkit includes the following pieces:

TaskDNA Posters: Sustain your safety commitment and support your workers' effort to improve personal safety with the TaskDNA Posters. The Posters are a key element of the Program's sustainability – they reinforce the concepts in an effective and long-lasting manner. They are placed throughout your worksite, to represent the risk exposure of the specific tasks they're placed by. Thanks to the TaskDNA Posters, your workers will understand how to identify changes in personal exposure as they go through their routine without interrupting their tasks.
TaskDNA Toolbox Cards: Refresh the TaskDNA concepts with the Toolbox Cards. The Toolbox Cards serve to facilitate discussion with your team over their safety behaviors: this will help both current employees remember to check their SafetyDNA and will assist you with your onboarding of new hires.
SafetyDNA Job Safety Analysis Form: Reinforce the value of internal safety through your reporting, with the Toolkit's JSA form. This form helps your team consider both external and internal safety factors, to remind your employees to keep all safety exposures in check.
SafetyDNA Incident Investigation Form: Similarly, the Toolkit's Incident Investigation form brings your team to reflect on both external and internal exposures, making every investigation a personal experience.
SafetyDNA Tumbler and Safety Pen: Lastly, reward your employees with the SafetyDNA Tumbler and Pen, as reminders of their excellent performance for safety. They will foster appreciation amongst your team while reinforcing SafetyDNA and TaskDNA concepts.
How should I use the TaskDNA Posters?
Place the TaskDNA Posters in close proximity to the area where a specific job task is performed, to deliver a clear message on the changing task exposures to your employees. Place the TaskDNA Posters in a highly-visible location, to ensure that every one of your employees is thoroughly prepared to face the job's exposures.
Program Implementation
Does this Program fit workers at all levels within my organization? This Program is designed to assess individuals' safety traits thoroughly; it can be used for individuals at all levels of your organizations. If you're looking to extend this Program to individuals in leadership roles, such as supervisors and managers, consider the Safety
DNA for Leaders Program. The Leadership Program encompasses a few additional units: while still including the core foundational safety assessment and training, it adds an individualized analysis of your workers' safety leadership styles, in-person workshops and coaching sessions.
Should I put my supervisors and managers through this Program? This Program is designed to assess and develop safety traits thoroughly – which is key for your front-line workers, and valuable for all other employees. It is extremely beneficial to enroll supervisors in the Program so that they can best support your hourly contributors and contractors, using the concepts and language their workers learned from the Program. This will not only ensure that the communication between supervisors and workers will be clear, but it will also help building rapport between them.
How can I recognize my employees' effort to improve their safety performance? Safety is a personal and important commitment – it stays with your workers for their whole lives, and can benefit them both on the job and at home. So, it is important to recognize their commitment and effort to something as impactful and ubiquitous as safety! Select International offers the Safety
DNA Tumbler, as a powerfully symbolic reward for true safety commitment. You can find the Tumbler
for sale on our site.
What should I do if one of my employees disagrees with his or her SafetyDNA Profile? Safety is a personal journey that starts from inside – and naturally, we're all wired a little differently. For this reason, we understand that some results may be more surprising to some than to others. This said, it's key for us to ensure that everyone can leverage their personal safety fully – so a well-rounded and internalized understanding of one's Safety
DNA Profile is key to do so! We'd be happy to answer any questions and address any concerns your employees may have: you can email us at
safety@selectintl.com with your inquiry.
I only have 5 employees I'd like to put through the Assessment and Development Program. Do you have packages with less than 10 seats available? Our 10-seat package is the smallest we offer at this time.
The tasks on my worksites are unusual; do you have TaskDNA Posters for them? We sure do! We understand that not all places are perfectly alike. We'd love to ensure that your workforce can benefit from Task
DNA Posters fully, to ensure their long-term safety. If you're interested in custom Task
DNA Posters, please email
safety@selectintl.com.