Research into fatigue on the

railway

Dan Basacik and Michael Woods,

RSSB

15th National Health and

Safety Advisory Conference
22 February 2017
 Why fatigue management is so
important?

Railways combine some of the most demanding characteristics

which can lead to fatigue:
Safety critical industry using fast moving machinery
24 hours a day, seven days a week and signing on times can vary
Widely spread geographically, and many have to travel long
distances to worksites
Many different employers; some working practices and
arrangements are better than others
Natural conflict between normal train services and activities
needed to maintain the tracks
Many of our staff are ageing, with a reduced ability to cope with
shift work; others have young families, who can disrupt sleep
patterns

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How big an impact does fatigue have
on railway operations?
Analysis identified fatigue as a factor in
21% of incidents; however, the
relevant check box in SMIS was only
marked for 1% of incidents

Home-life related fatigue was the most

cited reason for the fatigue (40%)
followed by work-related fatigue (38%).

Relevant fields for fatigue are often not

completed in SMIS

Available on the RSSB

website

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What can happen if we get fatigued?

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Fatigue can be a hidden contributory
factor

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Fatigue in transport more generally 1
pilot fatigue can present a
risk to flight safety - a risk that
needs to be managed at
company, national and
European level

Safety experts reckon that pilot

fatigue contributes to 15-20%
of fatal aviation accidents
caused by human error.

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Fatigue in transport more generally 2

Exxon Valdez tanker

disaster in 1989:

The watchkeeper had

only had 5 or 6 hours of
sleep in the 24 hours prior
to the grounding

The grounding of the feeder

containership Cita in 1997:

The mate fell asleep and

the ship sailed for two
and a half hours with no
one in control.

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Fatigue in transport more generally 3

Many examples of fatigue

affecting road drivers,
leading to:
Road traffic accidents
but also rail accidents

The Selby rail crash

Great Heck, near Selby, North Yorkshire: 28 February 2001.
Ten people died and 82 people suffered serious injuries.
The root cause was, ultimately, fatigue.

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 Past research

Weve done plenty of research in the past into the fatigue

issue:
T059 Human factors study of fatigue and shift work
T299 Human factors study of obstructive sleep apnoea in train
drivers
T699 Fatigue and shiftwork for freight locomotive drivers and
contract trackworkers
T997: Managing occupational road risk associated with road
vehicle driver fatigue
T1082: Developing fitness for duty checks and predicting the
likelihood of experiencing fatigue
T1083: Preparing rail industry guidance on biomathematical
fatigue models
T1084: Preparing rail industry guidance on first night shifts
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How tired are we?

% of duties where particularly fatigued

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
Passenger drivers Freight drivers Trackworkers

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What is driving fatigue (in our industry)?

Shift system:
Shift system: Individual:
Start time
--Start time Job factors: -Age
Shift length
--Shift length -Workload -Body clock
Rotation
--Rotation -Difficulty -Personality
Rest period
--Rest period - Working -Fitness & health
Recovery time
--Recovery time environment - Domestic
Breaks
--Breaks -Task familiarity arrangements

How much
How much sleep
sleep wewe get
get
How mentally
How mentally tired
tired we
we get
get
How physically
How physically tired
tired we
we get
get

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How does fatigue affect people?
Comparing people who are tired to
people who are at the drink drive
limit for alcohol

Reaction time, hand-eye co- People who have been awake

ordination, vigilance, splitting 16-19 hours straight, perform as
attention between tasks, etc badly as people who are at the
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How does fatigue affect people?

Degraded visual performance (I cant see straight)

Degraded cognitive performance (I cant think straight)
Reduced vigilance (I cant pay attention)
Increased errors (I cant do anything right)
Longer to respond (I cant do anything quickly)

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 Fatigue and health
Insomnia
Sleep apnoea
Chronic fatigue
syndrome

Fatigue Poor health

50+ hours of work per week Heart disease

Less then 6 hours of sleep a Diabetes
night Gastrointestinal
Frequent sleep complaints trouble
Musculoskeletal
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troubles
What should companies do?
Identify safety critical workers affected

Set standards and define working

patterns

Limit exceedances

Consult with safety critical workers

Record the arrangements
Provide information to safety critical
workers
Dont forget your role and
your unions role in this
process!!

Monitor

Take action when workers are fatigued

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What works for people?

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What works for people?

Knowing how your body works

Recognising health problems and getting help for them
Getting enough, good quality sleep!!
Taking naps to top up sleep
Breaks
Etc.
easily said.

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Thank you