Objectives This review aimed to integrate previous research to gain a deeper understanding of which individual factors are associated with reduced accident involvement, and which factors may be linked to success during emergency situations when they do occur. Better understanding how the human will react in these situations, combined with technological enhancements is vital to risk mitigation and ensuring successful performance. This review will also identify gaps in the literature that have yet to be addressed.

Method A systematic literature review was undertaken, beginning with 18,319 articles from three multidisciplinary databases. After careful review and exclusion, a final sample of 22 relevant articles were retained. This analysis was spread across various high risk, sociotechnical industries, including aviation, rail, mining, nuclear power, etc.

Findings The findings show that previous research has identified cognitive ability, leadership, situation awareness, personality, and risk perception as the most prominently considered factors in reducing accident involvement. Training, skill, situation awareness, and emotional stability were the most commonly associated factors to success through emergencies.

Conclusion While the research around individual differences impacting success during emergencies is scarce, this review provides future direction on potential factors influencing reduced accident involvement and/or potential factors that could influence a person's success through a disaster or emergency. This information could be implemented in recruitment and training of front-line workers in high-reliability organisations to reduce risk, increase safety and work towards reducing the number of accidents.