SACCIA
SACCIA understands safety as a communicative achievement.
Whenever people must act together under pressure, safety depends not only on what is said, but on how shared understanding is established. SACCIA provides an evidence-based competency framework that ensures such understanding can be achieved reliably – in high-risk situations as well as in complex crisis dynamics.
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SACCIA is the scientific backbone for building the shared understanding that enables people, organisations and societies to act safely together under uncertainty.
Grounded in communication science, SACCIA provides an evidence-based competency framework for creating the shared understanding required for safe collective action across high-risk environments, complex organisations and society as a whole.
Why is SACCIA needed?
Interpersonal communication is our most fundamental safety mechanism. In critical situations, it determines whether people can develop a shared understanding as the basis for effective collective action—or whether misunderstandings, false assumptions and unnoticed tensions escalate into preventable harm.
of preventable adverse events are linked to communication failures.
Research across safety-critical domains
Explore the science →The path to safe collective action
SACCIA Communication
Shared
Understanding
Coordinated
Decisions & Actions
Safety
Security
Resilience
Five competencies. One outcome: shared understanding.
Sufficiency
Are we missing anything?
Building a sufficiently complete shared information base.
Accuracy
Could we be wrong?
Validating information together to build accurate shared understanding.
Clarity
What still needs clarifying?
Resolving ambiguity and reducing uncertainty together.
Contextualisation
What's contaminating our conversation?
Recognising and neutralising the contextual factors that compromise shared understanding.
Interpersonal
Adaptation
What do we need from each other?
Adapting communication to each other's linguistic, cognitive and emotional needs.
The five competencies work together. No single competency can substitute for another. Shared understanding depends on all five being sufficiently practised.
Where does SACCIA come from?
SACCIA emerged from decades of communication science research and the systematic analysis of communication failures across safety-critical domains. The recurring communicative weaknesses identified through this research were translated into five evidence-based communication competencies.
Science
Services
Analysis
Systems
Communication
Risk Environments
SACCIA in Action
SACCIA provides a common communication framework across diverse safety- and security-critical contexts.
Healthcare
Improving patient safety through accurate, collaborative communication across the continuum of care.
Aviation
Supporting shared situational awareness and effective crew coordination in high-risk environments.
Defence
Strengthening communication for coordinated decision-making under uncertainty and operational complexity.
Critical Infrastructure
Strengthening coordination and resilience across complex technical and organisational systems.
Media & Journalism
Supporting responsible communication that strengthens understanding, trust and informed public dialogue.
Public Administration
Helping institutions communicate clearly, consistently and transparently during routine operations and crises.
From science to real-world implementation.
We help organisations strengthen their safety capability and resilience through research, education and implementation.
Research
Generating scientific evidence and advancing the science of safe communication.
Education
Developing communication competencies through evidence-based education, training and simulation.
Implementation
Embedding SACCIA into systems, processes and everyday professional practice.
Creating shared understanding
at institutional and societal levels
Our EISCOM Summits bring together science, policy, industry and society to address today's most urgent safety, security and resilience challenges through SACCIA-based dialogue facilitation.
Explore our Summits →
EISCOM Summit 2025
Crisis Resilience
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→
EISCOM Summit 2026
Safety 360°
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→
Safe communication
is not a soft skill.
It is critical safety infrastructure.
Discover how SACCIA can strengthen your organisation's capacity for safe communication.