Are You Fit to Continue? Approaching Rail Systems Thinking at the Cusp of Safety and the Apex of Performance

The incidence of driving a train through a stop signal continues to have implications for safety on railways. Industry rulebooks advise how to manage these events, but there has been very little investigation of causality from the systems-view. The increasing trend for maximizing rail capacities could be exacerbating the issue and warrants investigation from this perspective to determine the factors impinging on safety decisions in train driving. A participative research approach incorporating cab rides, focus groups, and a generative scenario simulation exercise was used to investigate how train movements and safety risk was managed, and the implications of this on the rail organization. Twenty-eight train drivers participated from eight passenger rail organizations across Australia and New Zealand. Inductive thematic analysis of the data revealed factors associated with (1) changes to signal meaning, (2) the nature of the driver-signal relationship, and (3) the confounding practice of asking a driver if they were “fit to continue” driving after going through a stop signal. The findings reflected a strong pattern of a normalization of deviance. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanisms underlying the observed phenomenon and a model outlining prospective solutions for future research is presented to contribute to the development of novel ideas for further thinking and research.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2015.02.016
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753515000442
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09257535
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Naweed, Anjum
  • Rainbird, Sophia
  • Dance, Craig
• Publication Date: 2015-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 101-110
• Serial:
  • Safety Science
  • Volume: 76
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0925-7535
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09257535

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Locomotive engineers; Moving violations; Passengers; Railroad safety; Railroad signals; Red light running; Risk management
• Geographic Terms: Australia; New Zealand
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01568732
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 29 2015 9:21AM