Human factors in the railway system safety analysis process

Abstract

Current European railway standards highlight the influence of human factors into railway system’s safety. In spite of this precept the integration is less frequent in engineering practice. The paper proposes the consideration of human factors in several life-cycle phases and in different risk perspectives in railway design and operation. Even for the classic method of integrating human error in quantitative risk analysis, the study for railway applications shows that data for error probabilities and existing techniques involve significant drawbacks. A straight-forward model of working systems is developed to structure influence factors on human performance and to provide a practicable cause-and-effects diagram. Additionally, current safety mechanisms in railways should be studied concerning their efficiency in terms of human-barrier-interaction. By providing this technique and basis for further development, the paper contributes to the integration of human performance into safety assessments and railway engineering practice.