A Preliminary Review of Fatigue Among Rail Staff

Fan, Jialin; Smith, Andrew Paul

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00634

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Figure 1). In the current study, time pressure was not related to sleep quality, although there is some evidence that time pressure can be related to impairments of sleep quality in railway workers (Fan and Smith 2018;H€ arm€ a et al 2002). However, time pressure was a significant predictor of less detachment, which is also involved in recovery from work demands (Elfering et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 52%

Work and sleep quality in railway employees: an actigraphy study

et al. 2019

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This actigraphy study tests whether daily work stressors (time pressure, social stressors), work resources (control, social support) and mental detachment from work predict sleep quality, when controlling for demands and control after work. Fifty-two railway employees participated during five consecutive workdays by completing diary questionnaires and wearing an actigraphy device. The results confirmed that social stressors from supervisors predicted more frequent sleep fragmentation and lower sleep efficiency the following night. Higher levels of daily time control at work predicted shorter sleep-onset latency and better selfreported sleep quality. Leisure time control as a covariate turned out to be a private resource, followed by fewer awakenings the following night. Detachment after work related negatively to social stressors and time pressure at work but was unrelated to indicators of sleep quality; detachment after work neither mediated nor moderated the relationship between social stressors from supervisors and sleep quality. Work redesign to increase time control and reduce social stressors is recommended to preserve daily recovery in railway employees. Practitioner summary: Sleep is important to renew health-and safety-related resources in railway employees. This diary and actigraphy study shows that higher daily work stressors were antecedents of lower sleep quality the following night, while more time control was followed by better sleep quality. Work redesign could promote health and safety by improving sleep quality.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 52%

Work and sleep quality in railway employees: an actigraphy study

et al. 2019

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“…Evidence for fatigue in rail staff has been found in many existing studies. Train drivers and signallers (i.e., railway controller) were the most investigated samples in fatigue studies [3], as fatigue-related human error in these roles could, obviously, result in serious safety consequences. However, the other job roles in this industry were also safety-critical, including the conductor, engineer, and even station worker.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In train accident and incident reports, staff fatigue is considered to be a causal factor [14,15,16,17,18]. By reviewing 98 rail investigation reports found in the SPARK, an organised library of researches and reports within the international rail community, Fan and Smith [3] found 23 of the reports identified fatigue as one of the contributory causes of the train incident or accident.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of Rail Staff Fatigue: Results of Qualitative Analysis and a Diary Study

Fan

Smith

2020

Communications in Computer and Information Science

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of fatigue among rail staff by analysing qualitative data and conducting an online diary study. It had a closer look at the experience of fatigue among rail staff and brought a more detailed blueprint picture of fatigue and its causes in the rail staff's real-life. Study 1 analysed 133 responses of qualitative data from rail staff, and Study 2 was a diary study examining fatigue and its related risk factors before and after work, on the first and the last day of a working week in 19 rail staff. The findings from the two studies, using different methodologies, showed similar results that fatigue was a result of heavy workload, long working hours, shift-work, and insufficient rest and sleep. Fatigue before work mainly resulted from sleep quality, length of sleep, and the time spent on commute, while fatigue after work resulted from the workload and shift type. Evidence has demonstrated that overtime work, specific shift patterns, insufficient rest days between opposed shifts, and poor timing of breaks during work were also associated with fatigue.

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“…In the railway industry, occupational fatigue is a severe problem which jeopardizes not only the staff health but also train and passenger safety, as most jobs are safety-critical. Evidence for fatigue among rail staff has been found in previous studies, in which various methods have been used, including surveys (Cotrim et al, 2017;Fan and Smith, 2017), incident reports (reviewed in Buck and Lamonde, 1993;Ugajin, 1999;Fan and Smith, 2018), simulated driving studies (Dorrian et al, 2007), and interviews (Filtness and Naweed, 2017). In particular, fatigue is considered to be a causal or contributory factor in the majority of train accident and incident investigation reports (British Rail Safety and Standards Board, 2005;British Rail Accident Investigation Branch, 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Effects of Occupational Fatigue on Cognitive Performance of Staff From a Train Operating Company: A Field Study

Fan

Smith

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Background: Occupational fatigue is a key issue in the rail industry that can endanger staff, passenger, and train safety. There is a need to demonstrate the relationship between workload, fatigue, and performance among rail staff. Objective: The present study, conducted in the workplace in realistic situations, integrating both subjective and objective measurements, aimed at demonstrating the relationship between workload, fatigue, and cognitive performance with a rail staff sample. Methods: The "After-Effect" technique was applied in the current study. Online diaries and cognitive performance tasks were used to assess the fatigue, work experiences, and performance of rail staff before and after work on the first and last days of one working week. Results: Reported fatigue was greater after work on both the first and last day of the working week. There were large individual differences in the change in fatigue and workload ratings. Analysis of covariance with age and the pre-work performance score as covariates and the post-work performance score as the dependent variable showed that high levels of fatigue were associated with impaired performance on both the visual search and logical reasoning tasks. Workload had fewer effects on performance than fatigue. Conclusion: This field study provided evidence for the relationship between workrelated fatigue and performance impairment. The findings show the need for future work on predicting fatigue-related performance decrements, and the necessity of providing interventions and support so that the risk to safety can be reduced.

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A Preliminary Review of Fatigue Among Rail Staff

Cited by 16 publications

References 46 publications

Work and sleep quality in railway employees: an actigraphy study

Work and sleep quality in railway employees: an actigraphy study

Causes of Rail Staff Fatigue: Results of Qualitative Analysis and a Diary Study

Effects of Occupational Fatigue on Cognitive Performance of Staff From a Train Operating Company: A Field Study

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