Proposed is a suggestion for an industry-focussed workshop to bring together HF professionals working on infrastructure and systems delivery projects in the rail sector.
OBJECTIVES
Integrating ergonomics into railway infrastructure projects is critical to the long term safety and performance of the system. At Network Rail we have processes and standards that are designed to maximise both the opportunity for, and the value of, human factors contributions throughout the project lifecycle.
This workshop would bring together a diverse range of voices in an interactive session, to share lessons learned and best practice that will be useful to people working on railway projects throughout the world.
AUDIENCE
The workshop would be of interest to a diverse audience including:
1. Delegates familiar with Network Rail projects, e.g.:
- Current HF and ergonomics suppliers (consultancies, contractors)
- Regulators and standards owners
- Safety professionals
2. Delegates working on other railway systems, e.g.:
- Metro systems (LUL, Paris Metro, etc)
- New railway projects (Crossrail, HS2)
- International railways
3. Delegates with HF integration expertise from other domains, e.g.:
- Oil and gas
- Defence
- Nuclear
- Academia
PROPOSED WORKSHOP STRUCTURE
1. Opening statement: problems and opportunities.
If we have interest from key stakeholders we could accommodate five minute pitches, or position statements, to kick-off the workshop. Contributions would be invited as part of the planning process before the conference.
2. Interactive workshop with facilitated stations/table discussions around the room for participants to:
- Establish a shared view of success
- Discuss different perspectives
- Debate good practice
- List barriers, problems and challenges
- Identify opportunities for improvement
If possible, a survey would be distributed pre-conference and the results collated so that the findings could be discussed at the workshop. Otherwise, we could complete the survey as part of the workshop and I would include the results, including a summary of the discussion and workshop outputs, in an output sent to all attendees.
3. Closing remarks and (informal) group presentations from the workshop activities.
OUTPUTS
The key outputs from the workshop would be a short document to be shared with delegates, as well as an article written for submission to The Ergonomist. The workshop would help build relationships between attendees so that connections forged during the conference may be of use at a later date.
LOGISTICS
The workshop would be designed to be fun and interactive (see gamestorming.com and innovationgames.com). Working within the constraints of the facilities, we would hope to use posters, artefacts attached to the walls, and lots of Post-It-Notes during the proceedings. The workshop could scale to accommodate from ten to 50 people, and last anywhere from 90 minutes to half a day.
Safety culture , Ergonomics regulation, standards and guidelines , Sustainable railways , Added value and cost benefits in rail ergonomcis/ human factors
