Rail Safety News Autumn 2013, Issue 9
Human Factors in Transport Safety seminar
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Human Factors in Transport Safety seminarOn 23 January 2013, Transport Safety Victoria (TSV) held another Human Factors seminar. The event was attended by over 100 people from across the rail, maritime and bus industries, contracting organisations, academics, consultants and regulatory staff. The Director, Transport Safety, Mr Alan Osborne, introduced the speakers and emphasised how essential addressing Human Factors issues is to transport safety. The first speaker, Professor Neville Stanton from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom (UK), gave a presentation titled ‘Forensic human factors: examining the Ladbroke Grove rail crash in the UK’. Professor Stanton was an expert witness in the civil litigation that followed the inquiry by Lord Cullen into the Ladbroke grove accident on 5 October 1999. The rail crash was a major collision between a commuter train and a high-speed train coming from the opposite direction at a combined speed of 130 mph. It caused the deaths of 31 people, including both train drivers. Forensic Human Factors is the application of scientific theories, methods and techniques for legal purposes. In the case of Ladbroke Grove, Professor Stanton used this forensic approach to examine the following questions:
Professor Stanton concluded that it would have been difficult for the signaller to respond in less than 17 to 19 seconds due to the design of the technology and possible human reaction time. Professor Stanton concluded that the signaller’s response in case of Ladbroke grove was commendable. The second speaker was Dr Guy Walker from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. His presentation was “Human Factors in transport: forgotten issue? Or is it just hiding?” Dr Walker noted that accident rates are decreasing. But risk exposure is increasing as the intensity of rail operations is increasing. There are capacity challenges, more trains are moving faster, while less track is available, therefore the environment is more complex. If this is true a focus on daily operations – the non-events, rather than accidents, may provide better leading indicators than a focus on retrospective accident investigation. These non-events can give us insight into daily operations, providing information about what is happening and help us respond to changing circumstances. With transport operations becoming increasingly intensive and existing approaches to safety assurance reaching their limits, Dr Walker outlined how an Australian invention (the blackbox) might provide us with access to new data sources. These sources, analysed with Human Factors approaches, will provide new ways of understanding why and how events occur and allow early intervention. If you would like copies of the presentation, please contact TSV’s Human Factors Manager Elizabeth Grey at Elizabeth.Grey@transportsafety.vic.gov.au. National Rail Safety Investigation ReformsThe following article was supplied by ATSB. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of TSV. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is now Australia’s national rail safety investigator. It is responsible for investigating safety events on all metropolitan, passenger and freight rail networks across Australia. The new national approach will lead to more investigations conducted across a greater range of safety matters. It will also result in better sharing of safety findings among rail operators and between the states and territories which will save lives and prevent injuries. While ATSB will be independent from the new national rail safety regulator and from industry, it will be working with both parties to identify risks to safety that might be addressed to prevent future accidents. Consistent with the ATSB's current role and international best practice, it will focus on finding contributing safety factors in accidents and incidents so that lessons can be learnt to prevent a recurrence. ATSB will assess occurrences reported to it to determine which ones would benefit from an ATSB investigation in order to improve future safety. Over the past 12 months, ATSB has recruited new rail investigators in readiness for the expanded role and negotiated financial and resource sharing arrangements with Victoria and the other states. For information on the National Safety Investigations Reforms and ATSB visit www.atsb.gov.au or follow ATSB on Twitter @ATSBinfo. Monthly ReportsTransport Safety Victoria is still receiving monthly reports (normalising data) sent to the wrong email address. Please submit them to transport.safety@transportsafety.vic.gov.au Where to get more information Transport Safety Victoria 121 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 PO Box 2797, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001 T. 1800 223 022 F. (03) 9655 8929 E. information@transportsafety.vic.gov.au W. http://www.transportsafety.vic.gov.au If you would like to receive this publication in an accessible format, such as large print or audio, please telephone Transport Safety Victoria on 1800 223 022 or email information@transportsafety.vic.gov.au. This publication is also published as a PDF on www.transportsafety.vic.gov.au. To subscribe to TSV’s email alerts, go to the TSV website and click on ‘subscribe’ (top right-hand corner). View previous editions of this newsletter on the TSV website under ‘publications & forms’ (top right-hand corner). Published by Transport Safety Victoria © State Government of Victoria 2013 Copyright in this publication resides with the Director, Transport Safety and the State of Victoria. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Disclaimer: This publication is a summary giving you general information on a particular topic, and does not cover all of the relevant law regarding that topic. This document should not be relied upon as a substitute for the relevant legislation, legal or professional advice. The information in this publication is current as at 1 March 2013 ISSN:1835-4483 1 Small red and green lights mounted on a board adjacent to a user worked level crossing or footpath crossing. The lights are operated by the passage of trains. They are sometimes called miniature warning lights. Directory: data -> assets -> word doc -> 0016 word doc -> This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth word doc -> Commonwealth of Australia 2002 word doc -> Commonwealth of Australia 2000 word doc -> Priority Existing Chemical word doc -> Rail safety news issue 6 – October 2011 word doc -> Review of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Identifying 0016 -> Cad and 3d animation A/t course Type 2 0016 -> Careers News No 17 (Also available on the Hawker College Website and Google Classrooms) 0016 -> One page action plan for (insert name and date here) Download 118.58 Kb. 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