People and Rail Systems

Human Factors at the Heart of the Railway

John R. Wilson, Beverley Norris, Ann Mills

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781351912280
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Seguridad y salud industriales

Following on from 2005's Rail Human Factors: Supporting the Integrated Railway, this book brings together an even broader range of academics and practitioners from around the world to share their expertise and experience on rail human factors. The content is both comprehensive and cutting-edge, featuring more than 55 chapters addressing the following topics: ¢ Passengers and public ¢ Driver performance and workload ¢ Driving and cognition ¢ Train cab and interfaces: simulation and design ¢ Routes, signage, signals and drivability ¢ Signalling and control of the railway ¢ Planning for the railway ¢ Engineering work and maintenance ¢ Level crossings ¢ Accidents and safety ¢ Human error and human reliability ¢ SPADs: signals passed at danger ¢ Human factors integration and standards ¢ Impairments to performance ¢ Staff competencies and training. People and Rail Systems: Human Factors at the Heart of the Railway will be invaluable for all those concerned with making railways safer, more reliable, of higher quality and more efficient. It will be essential reading for policy-makers, researchers and industry around the world.

PART I
Introduction

Chapter 1
Introduction

John R. Wilson, Ann Mills, Theresa Clarke, Beverley Norris

It seems only a handful of years since those of us working in rail human factors were almost apologetic about its ‘little brother’ status as compared to the well researched and published areas such as aviation or nuclear human factors. We perhaps felt too much the need to apologise for the barren years where little research was carried out apart from amongst a few brave souls in places such as The Netherlands and for the consequent dearth of specifically rail human factors oriented tools, methods and theory-led developments. This of course is not to say that we felt that we had to reinvent the wheel just to be specific to rail – we have always known that there was much that we could adapt from other fields and domains which was quite serviceable within the rail domain. However, we certainly felt that the real strength of activity in this field would only be evident when it began to have its own literature reporting on its own original investigations and method and theory development.

Now in just a few short years we have held the first European Rail Human Factors Conference, published the first full book in the area (Wilson et al. 2005), and published two full special issues of highly reputable international scientific journals (Applied Ergonomics, 36, 6, 2005 and Cognition Technology and Work, 8, 1, 2006). These publications describe rail human factors work carried out between, approximately, 2001 and 2004, and represent well the breadth and depth of the field in that period and the basis on which we are now going forward. A good, if somewhat self-referential, way of summarising current rail human factors work is to reflect on the activities of our own groups, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) Human Factors Group, Network Rail’s Ergonomics National Specialist Team (NST), and the University of Nottingham Centre for Rail Human Factors (CRHF) within the Institute for Occupational Ergonomics (IOE). These three groups are, in combination, perhaps typical of, and we like to think to some extent lead, rail human factors around the world in terms of their priorities, concerns and approach. The three groups and their parent bodies reflect and represent different business and operational needs and support, and have somewhat different (if overlapping and complementary) requirements for human factors knowledge, research, methods, tools and applications; all have a commitment to the strengthening of rail human factors as a branch of the discipline and as a major contributor to a strong successful rail business and network.

RSSB’s human factors team recently published ‘Understanding Human Factors – a Guide for the Rail Industry’ as part of the team’s strategy to assist the UK railway industry in integrating human factors into all of its activities. The guide covers the full breadth of human factors issues and focuses around the frequently asked questions that the industry has about our discipline. The vision of the team is that human factors will be adequately identified, managed and mitigated, to improve the safety of all users of the railway system, while improving industry and company performance. A significant programme of work is being carried out to assist the industry to understand the causal factors of human failure following an incident, and to support the identification of solutions to reduce the likelihood of the incident occurring again.

This work will include further accident investigation training, human factors input to incident investigation and continued support to the development of SMIS (Safety Management Information System). In the short-term the team is retrospectively analysing a significant number of incidents which will be used to prioritise work activity and identify the most salient human factors issues as well as provide tools for front line staff in error prevention – such as rule compliance, CCTV, alarm and alerts and safety culture toolkits. The team is currently developing a train cab design standard and guidance note along with the development of CAD models and an anthropometric database of UK train drivers, allowing us to support industry with emerging cab design data and factors. The team is also supporting a variety of European projects aimed at developing optimal driving cabs in the future.

The team will be continuing to support the RSSB research programme but will place significant emphasis on helping the industry to make best use of the knowledge that has been generated in the past few years from the increase in human factors research. In this we will maintain a balance between exploration and exploitation. Finally the team will increase the number of in-house projects it undertakes such as the recent reviews into TPWS ‘reset and continue’, depot incidents, evaluation of SPAD initiatives, development of new train driver selection systems, guidance on fatigue management systems and further supporting the development of new systems such as GSM-R and ERTMS.

For Network Rail, recognising the human factor in railway systems remains integral to the delivery of reliable human performance. The Ergonomics NST views the railway network as a whole, taking a systems approach to identify and address human factors associated with the design, installation, operation and maintenance of the entire infrastructure. This activity extends throughout the business: the driver’s interaction with the network to ensure that infrastructure is drivable; all operational elements, from our signallers using signalling equipment to the information required to direct and control train movements; Network Rail’s own vehicles and their design; designing for installation and maintainability; and understanding safety behaviour and ideals of error free systems!

Projects are major and minor: new control centres technology, changes in existing boxes, changes to stations, new installation processes for switches and crossings, new business systems and integration of functions. This range of projects provides a diverse set of integration requirements and opportunities for involvement from initial idea to implementation. The delivery of GSM-R and ETCS, next generation of communications technologies and signalling-train control systems, requires a whole systems view for the design and development activity. Eliciting and refining cross-industry ergonomic requirements and then articulating those to other disciplines requires software systems engineering, behavioural and communications skills. This ability to interpret information between diverse but interested parties is a challenge and makes ergonomics an exciting place to be right at the heart of engineering change!

Understanding the Network Rail workforce, whether that is operator, maintainer or deliverer, working to shape and change underlying attitudes and address root causes to problems and systemic contributors to performance loss, is a core activity. Work continues on diverse topics of signaller competency and selection arrangements, investigation, fatigue management, revised working arrangements for access to the infrastructure, better comprehension of the capabilities and motivations of our workforce, and safety behavioural programmes. Amongst all the huge opportunities for ergonomics to make a difference it is often the simplest of things that may have the greatest effects for the guy on the ground – like making forms easier to fill in or key information clearer to understand.

Growing Network Rail’s ergonomics capability, in terms of bringing on the next generation of practitioners to the discipline and to the rail industry, adding to the ergonomics body of understanding, and spreading this through the organisation has proved to be hugely satisfying.

At University of Nottingham the Centre for Rail Human Factors has continued to make a bridge between fundamental and applied research of relevance to the rail network. Some of the fundamental work has been funded by our partners in producing this book, Network Rail and RSSB, but also through our membership of the EPSRC funded network of several UK universities, Rail Research UK. In addition our fundamental human factors work is informed by our membership of the European network, EURNEX and our leadership of Pole 9 Human Factors within this.

In terms of particular strands of research Nottingham has carried out a substantial effort which has involved understanding the fundamental nature of work on the railways, examining strategies of working, activities and experience and competences within signalling and control for instance. In parallel with this we have been working to produce a number of methods and tools for particular studies, for instance of situation awareness, mental workload in signallers and team mental models. These programmes of research have now extended into studies of appropriate technical support, including levels of automation, for signalling and control.

One of the under-researched areas of rail human factors has been to do with engineering work – maintenance, enhancements and renewals. We have carried out a number of basic studies of the work of individual functions (engineering supervisors, PICOPs etc.) and this has now extended into full function analysis and HAZOP (hazard and operability study) for engineering work. Another strand of research is to do with display systems and this includes the development of virtual reality based simulators for train driving (and by extension for siting of signals and signs), development of interaction models and interfaces for mobile or personal information and communication devices for people out on the network, and fundamental investigations of monitoring and decision making when using CCTV. At an overall level our work continues into development and administration of ergonomics audit instruments and the detailed complex analyses required in order to interpret the large amounts of data emerging and to utilise these in establishing the direction forward for rail human factors.

A few short years ago it was not certain that even rail research generally, never mind the part that is rail human factors, would outlive an initial growth spurt. That it has done so is evidenced by such events as the second awarding by the Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK of a programme grant (RRUK2) across all rail research to nine universities, the central role being played by the Rail Research network, EURNEX, in establishing a business case for itself and in informing the next European Commission framework programmes for research, and continuing research with universities and consultancies contracted by Network Rail and by Rail Safety and Standards Board. Any familiarity with these networks makes it clear that there is substantial and vibrant research in such topics as improving the wheel rail interface, developing lighter and higher performance trains, exploring intelligent mobility and responsive transport networks and better understanding of the business, economic and social cases for rail transport. However it is at least arguable that per researcher involved no rail research field has grown so rapidly and so vibrantly as rail human factors. It is likely that this is because there is a widespread acceptance that in order to obtain a railway which is reliable, safe, efficient and makes maximum use of capacity, changes and improvements must be made in organisational and human network systems.

Moreover where technical systems change is considered, apart from in such areas as the wheel rail interface, these will only take best effect if there is a substantial human factors effort in parallel. For instance there may be major gains to be had from a new generation of signalling and control centres, using the best in automation, intelligent decision support systems and communication networks, but the benefits will only be realised if these centres are developed on the basis of the current skills, knowledge and attitudes of staff, and on what these are likely to be in the future. Equally more sophisticated warning, reminder and protection devices in the train cab may have benefits of improved safety and also efficiency in train paths and train movements, but their design and implementation must reflect clear understanding of driver information processing, driver behaviour, driver expertise etc. As a third example one of the greatest gains in efficiency in running the whole network currently would be in improving the way that engineering work is planned and managed. However since this involves close understanding of good practice in command and control (for instance moving engineering trains on and off the track), communication and collaboration (for instance in briefing) and coordination (for instance in self-organising teamwork distributed in time and space) then considerable part of the improvement will come about through application of human factors expertise.

In all the above examples, and in countless others, what is particularly clear apart from the need for a human factors contribution is that this contribution must be based upon good practice and good knowledge. This means that we need to constantly renew, refresh and report the rail human factors research base and at the same time develop better techniques, standards and programmes for implementation of that human factors knowledge in practice. Moreover this must be done in the clear understanding that the railway is a complex socio technical system, that it is rare that examination and design for just one particular facet of operation (for instance a single type of computer display interface) will have the intended benefits if this is in isolation of understanding of the wider physical and social environment, and that holistic approach and methods are needed to achieve success.

This book has grown out of the second European Rail Human Factors Conference, held in London in November 2005. The chapters in the book are based upon the papers presented at the conference, which attracted a world wide audience from nearly 20 countries, and a full spread of interested people from academia, consultancies and the rail industry itself. Indeed one of the strengths of rail human factors at the moment is the close relationship many within the industry have with the work that is going on to understand the rail socio-technical system and to provide related understanding, guidance and design and implementation recommendations. The presentations at the conference covered the range of human and organisational issues on the railway from driving to signalling and control to maintenance and engineering work to passengers and security issues such as trespass. Therefore this book represents the best of recent work in rail human factors, and in the recommendations for future work and descriptions of next stages of work contained in many of the chapters it starts to define the framework for the next few years.

References

Wilson, J.R., Norris, B.J., Clarke, T. & Mills, A. (eds) Rail Human Factors: supporting the Integrated Railway. London: Ashgate, 2005).

Acknowledgements

Conferences and books are always a collective effort, and the second European Rail Human Factors Conference and subsequently this book are no exceptions.

First we thank all our authors and delegates – without them and their contribution then there would be no conference or book, and indeed no thriving community in rail human factors. The editors are grateful for the help of their colleagues at Network Rail, RSSB and University of Nottingham for their work on the conference and their own research and project management activities which inform a part of the book. We are indebted to the assistance of Anne Floyde in collecting and collating the original papers which formed the conference proceedings and subsequently the book, and especially to our conference organiser Kerry Taylor who took responsibility for all site and delegate arrangements. After the conference most of the work of reformatting chapters and chasing recalcitrant authors (and editors!) fell to Lynne Mills and we are very grateful as usual for her vital contribution. At an institutional level we are also grateful for the support of our employers in putting the book together, and the staff at University of Nottingham also acknowledge the contribution made by RRUK and EURNEX in funding some of the time spent in editing and producing the book. Finally thanks are due also to our publishers and editors at Ashgate, and particularly Guy Loft.

Chapter 2
Real Prediction of Real Performance

Neville Moray

Editor’s note: This opening chapter is taken directly from the opening address by Professor Neville Moray to the 2^nd European Rail Human Factors Conference. In it he described, to a mixed audience of human factors researchers, practitioners and clients, how ergonomics is better placed today than ever before to make exact predictions about human performance. He suggests, however, that this will require a change in the way in which empirical data are used, in how statistics are reported and used, and a return to the use of mathematical models in co-operation with engineers.

Introduction

Ergonomists and human factors experts (I take them to be identical) have long claimed to be able to improve the efficiency of work, reduce errors and accidents, and ameliorate the working conditions of those who operate complex technical systems such as railways. In recent years indeed there has been a very great increase in the acceptance of ergonomics in the design and operation of such systems. It seems as though ergonomics has become accepted by the design and engineering community, by management and politicians, and even by lawyers, although the members of some of those categories have had to be dragged by main force into admitting the fact. We have seen ergonomists have major impacts on public inquiries in the nuclear industry, in accident investigations, in aviation, in the military and now finally even in the railways, long a privileged domain of civil and mechanical engineers. At the end of a career of in which I have spent many years working in the human factors of high technology systems this is gratifying. Furthermore it offers great promise for the next generation of ergonomists, and a chance to have a major impact on the well-being of society.

I do not have to tell this audience of the many ways in which ergonomics can be appl...