Assessing Human Factors and Organisational Culture in the supply of critical rolling stock products

RISAS is the Railway Industry Supplier Approval Scheme, which provides third party assessment and certification for suppliers of critical products and services such as overhauled: wheelsets, bogies, brake systems, axle... [ view full abstract ]

RISAS is the Railway Industry Supplier Approval Scheme, which provides third party assessment and certification for suppliers of critical products and services such as overhauled: wheelsets, bogies, brake systems, axle bearings etc. The scheme is managed by RSSB. A RISAS assessment of a supplier provides a duty holder with assurance that a robust ‘process based’ assessment has been carried out.  

In recent times, organisational culture and human factors-related issues have emerged in the supply chain, both during routine assessments and out of investigations into incidents involving critical products. In 2014 and 2016 RSSB investigated a number of axle bearing failures. Some of these involved RISAS-approved suppliers in the supply chain. For example, in one case documented in the RSSB investigation, a person forgot to tab-up a washer on a bearing end-cap which subsequently led to the in-service collapse of the bearing.  The report identified that human and cultural factors played a part in a significant number of cases. It recommended that these factors be assessed formally as part of the RISAS scheme.

This led to RISAS initiating a project early in 2016 to update the scheme to formally address Human Factors and Organisational Culture.  The project was led by RISAS and RSSB’s human factors team and supported by DNV GL.

A detailed gap analysis between what RISAS already covers in terms of human factors, and other assessment tools such as ORR’s RM3 model, the Safety Culture Toolkit and the Human Factors Guidance Toolkit on Train Maintenance, identified potential topics for inclusion in RISAS.  These were developed with input from suppliers and RISABs (Bodies that perform RISAS assessments) through a workshop to identify realistic ‘examples of evidence’ and through a pilot study where proposals were tested in a real-life assessment.

Following some iterations, a final set of additional topics were agreed:

• Learning from in-process experience

• Selection and assessment (of personnel)

• Knowledge retention

• Organisational design

• Task design

• Workforce supervision

• Fitness to work and support

• Workplace fairness

Early-on in the project it was decided that changes should follow the same format as the established RISAS scheme.  This meant that assessment topic areas had associated requirements each with several ‘examples of evidence’.  RISABs would be familiar with the format, and as they already had systems and software that would support such an extension, it was a practical way forward.  A guidance document was also developed covering the changes and new features such as supplier self-assessment, a ‘RISAS improvement programme’, and human factors and organisational culture competence requirements for RISAS assessors.  An awareness raising and training day was convened to introduce the changes to a wider set of RISABs.  Changes to RISAS procedural documentation followed, and the changes to the scheme were approved by the RISAS Board.

NOTE: Authors would like the paper (if selected) to be considered for inclusion in a special edition of Applied Ergonomics