ABSTRACT
Non-technical skills are the cognitive and social skills that complement workers’ technical skills. This chapter describes how a series of puzzling aircraft accidents in the 1970s led to the recognition of the importance of non-technical skills in aviation and explores how these skills have since become a focus of attention in other work settings. A series of major aviation accidents, without primary technical cause, forced investigators to look for other contributing factors. The best known of these events is the Tenerife crash in 1977, when two jumbo jets crashed on an airport runway. Good non-technical skills can reduce the likelihood of error and consequently of adverse events. Once the aviation industry realised that maintaining high standards of safety was going to require more than reliable technology and proficient technical skills in the system operators, it began several programmes of research to identify the key non-technical skills. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
