Fundamental examination of mental workload in the rail industry
Fundamental examination of mental workload in the rail industry
In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in rail human factors. The sometimes conflicting requirements of safety, reliable performance, quality of operations and effective use of limited capacity have meant that managers and engineers across all companies in the rail network have realized the importance of understanding and designing for human factors in train driving, signalling and control, maintenance, planning, etc. One key concern has been with workload, particularly mental workload, and especially in signalling and driving. This paper is concerned with a fundamental examination of what workload means in relation to the railways and especially signalling work and with a need to develop an appropriate suite of tools for the practical assessment of workload. In order to do this, the basic literature has been revisited in order to propose a conceptual framework of mental workload in the rail industry. Subsequently, a suite of workload tools has been proposed and is being used in practice; this is also described in this paper.
Demand, Effort, Mental workload, Rail, Signalling
463-482
Pickup, Laura
848cba3d-862b-4384-8faa-c8c28713172b
Wilson, John R.
88424a4f-a5ab-46b7-bd6b-3bdfb61dcea8
Sharpies, Sarah
feff0098-5b12-4c90-93e9-1938bcd31e22
Norris, Beverley
e6660f44-78fc-42d7-87e8-daeeaf2f2819
Clarke, Theresa
5d89c01a-1e7b-4e00-af30-d618e7db9e1b
Young, Mark S.
3f79589e-2000-4cb0-832a-6eba54f50130
November 2005
Pickup, Laura
848cba3d-862b-4384-8faa-c8c28713172b
Wilson, John R.
88424a4f-a5ab-46b7-bd6b-3bdfb61dcea8
Sharpies, Sarah
feff0098-5b12-4c90-93e9-1938bcd31e22
Norris, Beverley
e6660f44-78fc-42d7-87e8-daeeaf2f2819
Clarke, Theresa
5d89c01a-1e7b-4e00-af30-d618e7db9e1b
Young, Mark S.
3f79589e-2000-4cb0-832a-6eba54f50130
Pickup, Laura, Wilson, John R., Sharpies, Sarah, Norris, Beverley, Clarke, Theresa and Young, Mark S.
(2005)
Fundamental examination of mental workload in the rail industry.
Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 6 (6), .
(doi:10.1080/14639220500078021).
Abstract
In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in rail human factors. The sometimes conflicting requirements of safety, reliable performance, quality of operations and effective use of limited capacity have meant that managers and engineers across all companies in the rail network have realized the importance of understanding and designing for human factors in train driving, signalling and control, maintenance, planning, etc. One key concern has been with workload, particularly mental workload, and especially in signalling and driving. This paper is concerned with a fundamental examination of what workload means in relation to the railways and especially signalling work and with a need to develop an appropriate suite of tools for the practical assessment of workload. In order to do this, the basic literature has been revisited in order to propose a conceptual framework of mental workload in the rail industry. Subsequently, a suite of workload tools has been proposed and is being used in practice; this is also described in this paper.
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Published date: November 2005
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The work reported here has been funded by Network Rail, the Rail Safety and Standards Board and Rail Research UK (an EPSRC network). The reports of the anonymous referees of the first version of this paper have been a great help in improving it. We would like to acknowledge the time and expertise provided by subject matter experts at Network Rail, Bob Muffett and John Robinson. We also recognize the earlier or parallel work of Lucy Cordiner, Nikki Bristol and Sarah Jackson at the Institute for Occupational Ergonomics, Lucy Mitchell and David Watts at CCD Ltd and Ged Morrisroe at Network Rail.
Keywords:
Demand, Effort, Mental workload, Rail, Signalling
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 480359
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/480359
ISSN: 1463-922X
PURE UUID: 69e5ead2-27b9-4bbd-91eb-1b768104939b
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Date deposited: 01 Aug 2023 17:50
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:12
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Contributors
Author:
Laura Pickup
Author:
John R. Wilson
Author:
Sarah Sharpies
Author:
Beverley Norris
Author:
Theresa Clarke
Author:
Mark S. Young
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