Human factors in rail engineering

A programme of work has been carried out with Network Rail to support a number of high profile projects in rail engineering and maintenance, in particular to support the evaluation of current and new ways in which engineering work is protected on the UK railway.

A range of human factors methods have been applied, including:

• the collection of information in site observations
• consultation and scenario based work with staff and industry experts
• analysis of functions in rail engineering
• identification and analysis of human factors risks
• integration of human factors with other business processes (e.g. safety, production)

The programme of work is helping to develop an understanding of the key challenges and priorities for human factors in rail engineering work.

For more information about this project, email Dr Brendan Ryan.