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Human Factors and Performance
The GB railway is a technical system, where people are as integral to that system as any mechanical component. Technical systems are becoming more wide reaching and complex, so it is essential to consider their impact on:
- Individuals and their knowledge, competence, skills, abilities
- The workforce and how it performs as a group
- The organisation and their use of employees and staff as valuable assets which require investment
Human Factors can be applied to ensure that the technical system (from individual operating systems to the wider railway context) is designed to optimise the performance of its human elements, including the design of human machine interfaces, training, management, recruitment, competence etc.
This can reduce the need for re-design of systems once they have entered service, increase efficiency, reduce the potential for staff turnover and increase productivity of the whole organisation.
Human Factors and Safety
Humans are often identified as one of the causes of an incident, but Humans rarely make mistakes on purpose. The Human Factors discipline has a body of knowledge, tools & techniques to identify:
- Adverse effects on human performance
- Potential errors
- Solutions to minimise any impact
This can significantly reduce the chance of an incident occurring and any subsequent loss to performance, property or human life.
Put simply, Human Factors can reduce the potential for error and increase the margin of safety.
Integration of Human Factors
Human factors are not a series of independent issues to be addressed in isolation, or on a piece-meal basis. For human factors to be effectively incorporated it must be done so at the beginning of a project or design process. Human factors considerations should be integrated throughout the lifecycle of systems development, functions of the owner organisation and the different roles of individuals in project teams.
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