Partnering for workplace health and safety

Worker involvement in decision-making about the workplace can improve safety, health, productivity and the quality of organizational outputs. Australian work health and safety (WHS) legislation mandates worker involvement and gives elected Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) specific powers, but there has been limited research about the impact of that regulatory framework on the nature, quality and outcomes of worker involvement. As part of a wider review of worker representation in WHS, we investigated the role and impact (positive and negative) of elected HSRs on WHS] in South Australia using a newly-constructed survey instrument. This paper reports on the development of the instrument and the initial findings of the research. The initial survey dimensions and items were developed from earlier research on consultation in South Australia and were refined and validated through this research. The survey has 9 constructs and 61 items and has both face validity and high internal consistency. This research is a step forward for researchers and policy makers seeking a means of determining the effectiveness of worker participation in WHS. It provides an instrument, pilot baseline data and a method that could beused internationally to enable this assessment

Evaluating your train simulator. Part II, The task environment

This chapter will expand on this idea, but while the focus of the previous discussion was on the design and classification of the simulator environment, this chapter will focus on the data that are recorded by simulators and how they may be used in view of the simulator’s objectives. In broad terms, train simulators are typically designed for three key purposes, as follows:• Driver training • Competency assessment • Research Using simulators to deliver training allows familiarisation with routes, certain track features and responses to emergency situations in a relatively consequence free setting. Using them to assess competency enables the ongoing measurement of performance. Finally, using them for research enables the systematic investigation of the effects of differences at the driver (e.g. mood, experience, memory, fatigue), train (e.g. type, length, loading, locos, mechanical malfunctions), track (e.g. curvature, length, grade, defects, works, crossings) and environmental (e.g. light, noise, visibility, ice, rain, snow) levels on driving performance. As shown in Figure 9.1, a wide range of factors influence the ability to drive a train, highlighting an information-rich environment. However, simulation requirements, particularly the type and detail of the data required for training, competency and research, are often at odds with one another. The previous chapter made the point that simulators can be used to evaluate more than just technology, and that the fabric of the simulator must also be evaluated if meaningful data are to be derived from the evaluations of humans, systems and the processes placed inside. This chapter will extend this notion but focus more overtly on how these evaluations may be performed for research and review, with a focus on data format, choice of measurement, and interpretation and analysis of data

Strategies used by healthcare practitioners to manage fatigue-related risk : beyond work hours

Objectives: Fatigue in healthcare practitioners presents a risk to both patient safety and the safety and well-being of doctors and nurses. Management of fatigue-related risk is largely focused on hours of work limits, but these limits are fallible. The aim was to investigate the ways in which healthcare professionals manage fatigue-related risk beyond the hours. Methods: Qualitative data extracted from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 189 healthcare practitioners from nursing and medical disciplines were subjected to thematic analysis to identify key themes of causes and consequences of fatigue, as well as strategies deployed within teams and by individuals. Results: The majority of fatigue risk management beyond hours of work limits occurs as informal processes that have evolved within teams. These processes can be characterised as non-technical skills and include error protection practices and fatigue-proofing strategies. Conclusions: The informal practices we identified represent a key layer of defence in a fatigue risk management system – that of recognising and responding to fatigue. A process to assess and formalise the error protection practices and fatigue-proofing strategies is required and any formal implementation should be supported by effective and fair incident reporting systems

Subjective and objective sleep in children and adolescents : measurement, age, and gender differences

It is important to ascertain the accuracy of children’s and adolescents’ self-reported sleep estimates as they are usually the first (and sometimes only) measure of sleep taken by parents, clinicians, or researchers. In this study, sleep diaries were compared with actigraphy monitoring to investigate the correspondence between measures of sleep in children and adolescents and provide normative data. Differences in age, gender, and school day/weekend were investigated. Sixty-six (21 boys, 45 girls) children and adolescents (11–17 years) wore a wrist actigraphy monitor and completed a 7-day sleep diary. Measures of sleep onset, wake time, wake after sleep onset, and total sleep time were obtained. Less than recommended (9–11 h) amounts of sleep were obtained throughout the week and all participants underestimated the duration of their night wake. Children went to sleep significantly earlier and obtained more sleep than adolescents. Sleep onset and wake time were significantly later on weekends than school days for both age groups. No significant gender differences were found for any objectively measured sleep parameter. Correlations between diary and actigraphy were moderate to high and significant for sleep onset, wake time, and total sleep time. Paired samples t-tests indicated a significant difference between diary and actigraphy scores for all variables except children’s sleep onset. Overall, children and adolescents overestimated their total sleep time by approximately an hour, primarily through an under appreciation of night awakenings

The Low-Event Task Subjective Situation Awareness (LETSSA) technique: Development and evaluation of a new subjective measure of situation awareness

Situation awareness (SA) is an important component of an individual's ability to function in a complex environment. As such, it is essential to have effective measures of an individual's SA. The most widely used subjective measure of SA is the Situation Awareness Rating Technique [SART]. However, SART has been criticised for not predicting performance or objective SA, and being highly correlated with workload. This paper describes the development and testing of a new subjective measure of SA, the Low-Event Task Subjective Situation Awareness (LETSSA) measure. To evaluate LETSSA a train simulator study was conducted with 23 novice and 26 expert freight train drivers. LETSSA was able to detect differences in manipulated SA and was comparable to an established objective SA measure (SAGAT). LETSSA was significantly associated with performance but not significantly associated with workload. While further validation is required, LETSSA shows promise as an effective subjective measure of SA. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Measuring sleep habits using the Sleep Timing Questionnaire: A validation study for school-age children

In 2003 Monk and colleagues published a single-administration replacement for a standard sleep diary, the Sleep Timing Questionnaire (STQ). Reliable and valid for adult participants, it offers advantages over existing methodologies in cost and convenience. It takes approximately 10 min to complete but can yield information equivalent to a week of actigraphy, or a 2-week sleep diary. This study sought to validate the STQ for school-age children. Sixty-five children (20 boys, 45 girls), aged 11-16 years participated in this study. The participants wore wrist actigraphs, completed a 1-week sleep diary and the STQ. Analyses tested convergent validity between the STQ and actigraphy, and the STQ and sleep diaries. Correlations between STQ and actigraphy (r = 0.45-0.76, P < 0.001), and STQ and sleep diaries (r = 0.42-0.86, P < 0.001), were positive and significant for sleep onset and wake times. Correlations between STQ and actigraphy for sleep latency and wake after sleep onset (WASO) were very low (r < 0.10). In contrast, sleep latency was moderately and significantly correlated between STQ and sleep diary (r = 0.42, P < 0.001), and the correlation for WASO was high and significant (r = 0.74, P < 0.001). Differences between the STQ and sleep diary were within acceptable limits for all sleep parameters, and the differences between STQ and actigraphy were acceptable for sleep onset and school day wake time. The STQ may be a valid indicator of sleep onset and wake time in school-age children. It can also produce measures of sleep latency and WASO with comparable accuracy to a standard sleep diary. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Japanese Society of Sleep Research

Going solo: Hierarchical task analysis of the second driver in “two-up” (multi-person) freight rail operations

While many countries have dual-driver (“two-up”) modes in freight rail, driver shortage creates increasing pressure to move to single-driver operations. While this change has implications for workload and safety, the roles of the primary and second drivers have not been systematically mapped. This mapping is the focus of this paper, which presents a hierarchical task analysis (HTA) from a multi-methods study (n = 40). Results indicated that transitioning from two-up to single driver operations will result in substantial changes in physical and cognitive workload for the remaining driver. These changes go much further than the simple loss of a crew-mate to double-check or verify actions and cues. This HTA can form the basis of an evidence-based safety case for the change from two-up to single-driver operations, as well as a platform for considering mechanisms to maintain safety and productivity for the now solo train driver

An evaluation of the low-event task Subjective Situation Awareness (LETSSA) Technique

Introduction: Accurate situation awareness is an important part of driving a train and it is important to have effective measurement techniques to assess drivers’ levels of situation awareness. The most widely used subjective measure of situation awareness is the Situation Awareness Rating Technique (SART) (Taylor, 1990). Although SART was developed using information from military flight crews, Endsley, Selcon, Hardiman and Croft (1998) state that it is suitable for any domain without need for customisation, although there appears to be little or no research confirming this. Based on comparisons between military aviation operations and long-haul train driving and on the researchers’ experience of using SART in long-haul train driving, it is argued that a new measure needs to be developed to assess situation awareness for low-event tasks. Based on a task analysis of the train driving task produced by Rose and Bearman (2012) and on Endsley’s three stages of situation awareness, a new measure of low-event task subjective situation awareness was developed (LETSSA). This paper describes an initial study that seeks to provide a basic evaluation of the new LETSSA technique. Method: To test the new measure, simulator experiments were conducted using participants with no train driving experience. Twenty-three volunteers (20 males, 3 females, aged 22-70y), attended two sessions in a full-cab, high-fidelity train simulator. In the first session, information provided to assist situation awareness was low and in the second session, information provided was high. Measures included a summary measure of train driving violations, subjective performance ratings, NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) workload measure, Situation Awareness Global Rating Technique (SAGAT) and LETSSA. Results: Wilcoxon rank-sum tests revealed significant differences in scores of subjective and actual performance, LETSSA, SAGAT, and workload between the first and second sessions (p<.01). Investigating session-to-session change for each individual participant revealed higher consistency between LETSSA (22 indicated improvement) and actual performance (23 improved) than between SAGAT (only 19 indicated improvement) and actual performance. Correlational analysis of the differences between sessions (high awareness score minus low awareness score) for LETSSA and objective performance, and SAGAT and objective performance found low correlations that were not significant. Discussion: The study was designed to produce an increase in situation awareness in the second, compared to the first experimental session. Overall, this was clearly reflected by all measures, including SAGAT and LETSSA. Inspection of change in individual participants revealed that the direction of change was more consistent in LETSSA than in SAGAT (22 versus 19 participants), suggesting that LETSSA may be a better measure in this instance. The lack of correlations with performance in terms of the change between sessions suggests that the magnitude of the change was not well-reflected by either measure. These findings represent the first step in a program of studies that will investigate use of LETSSA in more detail, and compare these results in novices with those in experienced train drivers

Work hours, workload, sleep and fatigue in Australian Rail Industry employees

Research suggests that less than 5 h sleep in the 24 h prior to work and/or more than 16 h of wakefulness can significantly increase the likelihood of fatigue-related impairment and error at work. Studies have also shown exponential safety declines with time on shift, with roughly double the likelihood of accident or injury after 10 h relative to the first 8 h. While it is acknowledged that reduced sleep, increased wakefulness and longer work hours produce work-related fatigue, few studies have examined the impact of workload on this relationship. Studies in the rail industry have focused on drivers. This study investigated fatigue in a large sample of Australian Rail Industry Employees. Participants were from four companies (n ¼ 90: 85m, 5f; mean age 40.2 8.6 y). Data was analysed for a total of 713 shifts. Subjects wore wrist actigraphs and completed sleep and work diaries for 14-days. They also completed the SamnePerelli Fatigue Scale at the beginning and end of shifts, and the NASA-TLX workload scale at least twice during each shift. Average ( SD) sleep length (7.2 2.6 h), prior wake at shift end (12.0 4.7 h), shift duration (8.0 1.3) and fatigue (4.1 1.3, “a little tired, less than fresh”) were within limits generally considered acceptable from a fatigue perspective. However, participants received 5 h or less sleep in the prior 24 h on 13%, were awake for at least 16 h at the end of 16% and worked at least 10 h on 7% of shifts. Subjects reported that they felt “extremely tired, very difficult to concentrate,” or “completely exhausted, unable to function effectively” on 13% of shifts. Sleep length (OR ¼ 0.88, p < 0.01), shift duration (OR ¼ 1.18, p < 0.05), night shift (REF¼ morning shift, OR ¼ 2.12, p < 0.05) and workload ratings (OR ¼ 1.2, p < 0.05) were significant predictors of ratings of extreme tiredness/ exhaustion (yes/no). While on average, sleep loss, extended wakefulness, longer work hours and workrelated fatigue do not appear problematic in this sample, there is still a notable percentage of shifts that are likely to be associated with high levels of work-related fatigue. Given the size of the Australian Rail Industry, with thousands of shifts occurring each day, this is potentially of operational concern. Further, results indicate that, in addition to sleep length, wakefulness and work hours, workload significantly influences fatigue. This has possible implications for bio-mathematical predictions of fatigue and for fatigue management more generally

Modeling fatigue-related truck accidents : prior sleep duration, recency and continuity

A review of fatigue-management approaches proposed an alternative to hours of service (HOS) regulations based on prior sleep and wakefulness (PSW). This approach states that an individual must have ≥X h and ≥Y h sleep in the 24-h and 48-h periods prior to work, respectively; and that the continuous period for which they have been awake by the end of the shift must be less than or equal to the amount of sleep they have had in the prior 48 h. An a priori model with X = 5 and Y = 12 was suggested. This study investigated the ability to predict fatigue-related accidents using: (a) the a priori model; (b) an optimized model (manipulating X and Y); (c) models with continuous or split sleep; (d) HOS indicators; and (e) combined PSW and HOS models. Sleep and work histories were collected from 107 truck accidents (male drivers, aged 23–66 y), of which 62 had a probable cause of fatigue. The a priori model correctly classified 65%, and the optimized model (6.5 h in the prior 24 h and 8 h in the prior 48 h) nearly 71% of accidents. A simplified model of 6.5 h continuous sleep in the prior 24 h correctly classified nearly 75%. HOS indicators correctly classified <60% and combined models, approximately 73%. PSW or combined PSW/HOS approaches may more effectively manage fatigue than current HOS paradigms alone. Sleep duration, recency and continuity are of primary importance