Austrian Co, ‘Schuhfried’ to conduct Psychological Tests on Loco Pilots to improve Safety

 Mumbai: A spate of train accidents in the recent past have forced the Centre to bring in the most modern technology and mechanism to ensure passenger safety.

As part of this process, Austrian company Schuhfried has been given the task of taking up psychological tests to Indian locomotive drivers to improve their efficiency besides ensuring recruitment of better manpower.

“Schuhfried has been given the task of testing the Indian locomotive drivers on a pilot basis. The computerised psychological assessment tests are likely to start as early as this month or next month and is likely to lead to improved trade relations between the two countries as well,” Advantage Austria Commercial Counsellor Dr Wolfram Moritz told. Advantage Austria is Austria’s official trade promotion organisation.

“The Indo-Austrian joint working group which met in September had discussed various investment and associating opportunities between the two countries. Some of the areas for cooperation that were discussed included railways and electronic toll system for roads across India,” Moritz added.

Schuhfried was the first company in the world to develop a psychological test system: the Vienna Test System (VTS) which includes an innovative test battery for the objective and valid identification of suitable train drivers and also includes tests for selection of station masters and rail traffic controllers.

The Vienna test system also provides a large number of high-quality tests for the selection of staff in other areas such as station masters, rail traffic controllers and administration staff, according to Schuhfried.

What began in the 1950s with a test device designed to assess fitness to drive has now grown into a software package containing 120 different computerized psychological tests (intelligence tests, ability tests, personality tests, etc.) and optional accessories (hardware to measure psychomotor functions, sensorimotor functions, etc.). More than 5,600 business customers in 67 countries operating in the fields of HR, neuropsychology, traffic psychology and sport psychology have now opted for the Vienna Test System. In terms of the number of tests administered the Vienna Test System is still the leading test software for psychological assessment. More than 13 million tests are administered using the Vienna Test System each year – for recruitment and aptitude assessment, to assess fitness to drive, for neuropsychological and clinical purposes, in research projects and in high-level sport.

Schuhfried covers every aspect of psychological assessment and cognitive therapy; all the important core skills for product development and manufacture are available in-house. In the broad range of 120 psychological tests and 15 test sets users are sure to find just the right test for their purposes. Many of the tests have been developed by SCHUHFRIED; others are the result of cooperation with scientists and academics or are the work of well-known test authors (e.g. Raven, Eysenck, Beck, Sturm, Kubinger). All the products are closely coordinated and are continuously maintained and developed.