Training and drilling personnel for disrupted situations

Major disruptions are part of life in the railways. And yet ill-adapted daily routines, involvement of staff not usually called upon in such cases and the pressure felt by frontline personnel mean that these situations are... [ view full abstract ]

Major disruptions are part of life in the railways. And yet ill-adapted daily routines, involvement of staff not usually called upon in such cases and the pressure felt by frontline personnel mean that these situations are often hard to manage. At times this may lead to failures, incidents, or even accidents.
The role played by staff under such circumstances is therefore crucial. Human decisions are often the bulwark guaranteeing safety. The training and drilling of staff is an effective way to improve the management of these situations.
But how should personnel be trained? What tools do they need? And what kind of management and procedures can optimise how these scenarios are handled?
Using the in-depth analysis of three case studies, certain vulnerabilities have been brought to light.
These weaknesses are closely related to the inherent skills of staff, namely, are these skills suitable for managing unusual situations and have they been maintained?
The identified weaknesses also related to the working environment: time pressure, suitability of procedures, and flow of information….
In all, ten vulnerable areas were found through the three case studies, indicating that improvements had to be made both in terms of personnel and to the operational system.
Training and drilling of staff includes measures to reinforce the skills of individuals, i.e. technical skills, such as knowledge of procedures; and non-technical skills or the ability to apply procedures in a given context, i.e. in a climate of uncertainty and under pressure, which are characteristic of disrupted situations (situation analysis and decision making, ability to cope with stress….)
Performance is also a question of team work. Good communication, smooth cooperation and leadership which reflect an understanding of safety are equally important.
Drilling is important to accustom staff to disrupted conditions.
However, such actions are only truly effective if implemented together with other improvements to the overall production system: organisation, tools and procedures.
In sum, good management of disrupted situations comes down to holistic preparation of the railway system, which should be conducive to good decision-making and inspire the desired safe behaviour in staff.
One of the key factors to success is to strike a healthy balance between a very prescriptive organisation which offers ready-made answers (scenarios, procedures) which offers little margin for initiative, and an organisation which gives huge autonomy and few pre-prepared answers.
This fine balance between prescription and autonomy will heavily influence the type measures a company will implement to reinforce and improve their ability to manage disrupted situations.