Traditional personality research on accident behavior has produced conflicting opinions as to the traits that describe the "accident-prone" personality type. Other research has shown that psychosocial life stress, while partially determining the temporal onset of a variety of illnesses, may also be a factor contributing to increased accident liability. This study examined the role of temporary and stress-producing life changes in groups of accident-free and accident-involved industrial employees. The accident sample was found to have significantly higher stress over baseline during the period of accident involvement, but generally lower pre-accident levels than the non-accident sample. A cause-effect analysis of the data from within the accident-involved sample proved inconclusive. Several implications for future research and managerial actions to alleviate stress were also discussed.

It was hypothesized that field dependence and attention measures would differentiate accident-loaded and accident-free employees of a petroleum services company. Analysis of variance revealed main effects and a three-way interaction for the Rod-and-Frame Test. Main effects occurred for the Attention-Diagnostic Method and Embedded- Figures Test. No differences occurred for the Closure Test. Regression analysis produced an R (76) = .41, p < .01, with the Attention-Diagnostic Method contributing more to prediction. Equality-symmetry violations occurred in the data. Cautious interpretation was advised because of the assumption violations. The accident-loaded subjects produced consistently greater performance variances, which suggested general performance characteristics in several respects. Future research should be longitudinal-predictive, oriented from Kerr 's complementary safety theories.

One technique being used to reduce employee turnover is the Weighted Application Blank. Data obtained from application blanks are analyzed and weights are assigned to each item. Utilizing these weights, predicted scores are derived and compared to each person's actual tenure to determine the effectiveness of the model. The present study analyzed application blank data from the files of 93 currently employed and 69 terminated female clerical workers. Twelve items were analyzed by means of a stepwise multiple linear regression procedure, with months of tenure being the dependent variable. The five most significant items yielded a multiple correlation of .54. The total sample also was divided randomly into two groups, and cross-group analyses resulted in simple correlations of .56 and .29.