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Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ)3

Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) Test

For healthcare teams, the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) Test presents 41 questions and takes about 8 minutes. Results summarize perceptions of teamwork, safety, stress, job satisfaction, management, and working conditions, helping respondents reflect on perceived safety culture, teamwork, working conditions, and areas staff may consider for attention.

Questions: 418 minutes

Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ): situation and reply bubbles

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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2,715 completions

2,313 likes

Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

2,313 likes

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Safety AttitudesSA

Measures staff’s overall perception of and commitment to patient safety principles and safety culture within the organization.

example score56/205

56/205Needs improvementexample score

41 – 95Needs improvement

96 – 150Developing

151 – 205Strong

A score of 56 falls in the “Needs improvement” range, indicating a generally less positive safety attitude and potential gaps in perceived safety culture and adherence to safety principles.

Teamwork ClimateTC

Assesses the degree of support, collaboration, and mutual assistance within the team.

example score25/30

25/30Strongexample score

6 – 16Needs improvement

17 – 23Adequate

24 – 30Strong

A score of 25 falls in the Strong range, suggesting a generally cohesive team climate with effective cooperation and mutual support.

Safety ClimateSC

Assesses how positively staff perceive workplace safety, including trust in safety measures and procedures.

example score21/35

21/35Moderateexample score

7 – 16Low

17 – 25Moderate

26 – 35High

A score of 21 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting mixed perceptions of workplace safety and only partial confidence in current safety practices.

Job SatisfactionJS

Measures how satisfied employees are with their job, working conditions, and professional fulfillment.

example score11/25

11/25Lowexample score

5 – 12Low

13 – 19Moderate

20 – 25High

A score of 11 falls in the Low range, indicating comparatively reduced job satisfaction and less positive perceptions of work and working conditions.

Stress RecognitionSR

Measures how well staff recognize the impact of stress on their work and regulate it in day-to-day clinical practice.

example score15/20

15/20Moderateexample score

4 – 9Low

10 – 15Moderate

16 – 20High

A score of 15 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a generally adequate ability to notice stress effects and use basic strategies to manage them, with room to strengthen consistency under pressure.

Perceptions of Unit ManagementPoUM

Measures staff perceptions of how supportive and competent department management is regarding patient safety.

example score13/25

13/25Low confidenceexample score

5 – 14Low confidence

15 – 19Mixed confidence

20 – 25High confidence

A score of 13 falls in the Low confidence range, suggesting limited perceived support and involvement of department management in safety issues.

Perceptions of Hospital ManagementPoHM

Measures how positively staff perceive clinic management decisions and policies related to maintaining patient safety.

example score13/25

13/25Moderateexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 13 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a mixed but generally acceptable view of management’s safety-related actions with room for improvement.

Working ConditionsWC

Assesses staff satisfaction with working conditions, including equipment adequacy, comfort, and workplace safety.

example score16/20

16/20Strongexample score

4 – 10Needs improvement

11 – 15Adequate

16 – 20Strong

A score of 16 falls in the Strong range, indicating generally positive perceptions of equipment, comfort, and workplace safety conditions.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Hospital and clinic managers

41%OF USERS

Leaders and quality managers use it to gauge the safety culture, spot weak points in processes, and prioritize improvements.

Doctors and nurses

36%OF USERS

Clinical staff take it to share how safe and supported they feel at work and where teamwork or communication breaks down.

Patient safety specialists

23%OF USERS

Risk, compliance, and safety officers use it to monitor safety climate over time and evaluate the impact of training or policy changes.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Attitude Towards SafetyATS

You?

Average145

Typical rangeTypical122.5 – 167.5

Possible41 – 205

Teamwork AtmosphereTA

You?

Average16.4

Typical rangeTypical12.4 – 20.4

Possible6 – 30

Atmosphere of SafetyAoS

You?

Average21.7

Typical rangeTypical17.3 – 26

Possible7 – 35

Job SatisfactionJS

You?

Average18.6

Typical rangeTypical15.1 – 22.1

Possible5 – 25

Stress RecognitionSR

You?

Average11

Typical rangeTypical8.1 – 14

Possible4 – 20

Perception of department managementPodm

You?

Average11.7

Typical rangeTypical8 – 15.5

Possible5 – 25

Perception of Clinic ManagementPoCM

You?

Average17

Typical rangeTypical14.5 – 19.5

Possible5 – 25

Working ConditionsWC

You?

Average12.9

Typical rangeTypical10 – 15.8

Possible4 – 20

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

You are presented with a set of questions, each with multiple response options. Select the option you prefer based on your work experience in the unit where you spend most of your working time at the time of completing this questionnaire. When choosing a response option, rely on your first impression. For the purposes of this questionnaire, “unit supervisor” refers to: for nursing staff, the charge nurse; for physicians, the unit head; and for non-clinical staff, the department manager. For the purposes of this questionnaire, “clinic leadership” refers to: the chief medical officer, deputy chief medical officers, the chief nursing officer, and similar positions.

- Strongly disagree
- Disagree somewhat
- Neutral
- Agree somewhat
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree somewhat
- Neutral
- Agree somewhat
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree

These are 3 of the 41 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) Test - Description and methodology of the test

security

medical staff

Designed for healthcare professionals and teams, this assessment examines how communication, leadership, workload, and organizational practices shape perceptions of safe care. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) Test gives a structured profile of workplace factors that staff experience in daily practice. As a safety culture assessment, it can help a unit discuss strengths, friction points, and priorities for improvement.

What This Assessment Explores

The patient safety questionnaire covers scales:

Safety Attitudes (41-205) measures safety adherence: Needs improvement 41-95/Developing 96-150/Strong 151-205.
Teamwork Climate (6-30) measures collaboration: Needs improvement 6-16/Adequate 17-23/Strong 24-30.
Safety Climate (7-35) measures trust: Low 7-16/Moderate 17-25/High 26-35.
Job Satisfaction (5-25) measures fulfillment: Low 5-12/Moderate 13-19/High 20-25.
Stress Recognition (4-20) measures stress management: Low 4-9/Moderate 10-15/High 16-20.
Perceptions of Unit Management (5-25) measures support: Low confidence 5-14/Mixed confidence 15-19/High confidence 20-25.
Perceptions of Hospital Management (5-25) measures policies: Low 5-11/Moderate 12-18/High 19-25.
Working Conditions (4-20) measures adequacy: Needs improvement 4-10/Adequate 11-15/Strong 16-20.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

This is a structured self-report survey. Statements cover speaking up, error handling, support, workload, fatigue, management, staffing, training, and collaboration. Respondents choose among five agreement options, from strongly disagree to strongly agree, with a neutral option where shown. Negatively worded items mean raw agreement cannot be interpreted as a higher or lower score without the questionnaire's scoring key.

Separate domain scores are reported rather than a single pass/fail judgment, and each score is interpreted through its displayed band. The questionnaire does not specify item weighting or reverse-coding, so readers should not infer an overall total or cutoff beyond the displayed bands. Responses may vary with current workload, local events, and willingness to disclose concerns.

Published work on the SAQ provides psychometric and benchmarking evidence for that established instrument. This questionnaire is conceptually consistent with it, while its online form is not established as reproducing the instrument's validation sample, norms, or reliability estimates. Its domains are relevant to healthcare safety culture, especially teamwork, stress, and safety perceptions, but that relevance does not make the online form a standardized adaptation.

Author: John B. Sexton, Robert L. Helmreich

Literature:

Sexton, J. B., Helmreich, R. L., Neilands, T. B., Rowan, K., Vella, K., Boyden, J., Roberts, P. R., and Thomas, E. J. (2006). The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire: psychometric properties, benchmarking data, and emerging research. BMC Health Services Research, 6, 44. 10.1186/1472-6963-6-44
Sexton, J. B., Thomas, E. J., and Helmreich, R. L. (2000). Error, stress, and teamwork in medicine and aviation: cross sectional surveys. BMJ, 320(7237), 745-749. 10.1136/bmj.320.7237.745

Updated: 2025-10-02