scholarly journals Human and Organizational Factors of Positive Train Control Safety System The Application of High Reliability Organizing in Railroad

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 1824-1828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yalda Khashe ◽  
Najmedin Meshkati
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Safety System ◽  
Train Control ◽  
Positive Train Control ◽  
Safety Recommendations ◽  
Human And Organizational Factors

On August 20, 1969, two Penn Central commuter trains collided head-on near Darien, Connecticut, killing four and injuring 43. That tragedy 45 years ago began the NTSB's call for development and implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems. Since then, the NTSB has issued almost 50 PTC-related safety recommendations and has included PTC on its Most Wanted List every year from its inception in 1990 until enactment of the RSIA. Unfortunately, despite some progress in the four decades since that original recommendation, PTC preventable train collisions still occur. In this paper, we identify human and organizational factors that affect a successful PTC implementation and evaluate the application of High Reliability Organizing (HRO) characteristics in the implementation of this safety system.

A High Reliability Organization (HRO)-based Retrospective Analysis of Boeing 737 Max Crashes

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 851-855
Author(s):  
Yalda Khashe ◽  
Soraya Levy
Keyword(s):  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Aviation Industry ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
High Reliability Organization ◽  
Preventative Measures ◽  
Regulatory Systems ◽  
Passenger Safety ◽  
Human And Organizational Factors

The two crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircrafts within the small span of half a year resulted in tremendous loss of life, money, and public trust in the regulatory systems responsible for ensuring passenger safety within increasingly automated aviation systems. However, these two instances of catastrophic system failure provide experts in the fields of human and organizational factors with the opportunity to transform the aviation industry, propelling it into a period of innovative automation technologies, replete with a groundbreaking reverence for system reliability, safety, and preparedness for failure. By applying the key principles of High Reliability Organization (HRO) to a retrospective analysis of the concurrent Boeing 737 Max crashes, we aim to identify relationships between defining HRO characteristics and preventative measures that Boeing, human workers, and regulatory agencies could have followed before and during the accidents’ occurrences.

Technology and High Reliability Organizations in Railroad Operations Safety: A Case Study of Metrolink / SCRRA and Positive Train Control (PTC) Implementation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Placencia ◽  
Najmedin Meshkati ◽  
James Moore ◽  
Yalda Khashe
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
High Reliability Organizations ◽  
Train Control ◽  
Commuter Rail ◽  
Safety Improvement ◽  
Union Pacific ◽  
Positive Train Control ◽  
Class 1 ◽  
Railroad Safety

High-risk organizations operate technologies such as in rail transportation, aviation, or nuclear power, where failure/breakdown can initiate low-probability, high consequence events. The concept of High-Reliability Organizations (HROs) was developed to avoid or mitigate such events through proper management despite the inherent risk. The September 12, 2008, Chatsworth accident is an example of such events that HROs are designed to prevent. In that case a Metrolink commuter train and Union Pacific freight train collided when the Metrolink engineer failed to recognize and react to a stop signal as a result of texting, causing 25 deaths and 135 injuries. This incident directly resulted in the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which mandated Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation on all Class 1 rail carriers, as well as intercity / commuter rail passenger transporters. Over the past 2 years, the USC team has observed PTC implementation at the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) / Metrolink. This paper examines how PTC can be an integral part in developing and promoting HRO principles within the rail industry based on those observations.

scholarly journals PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY ENSURING SYSTEM OF PERSONALITY IN UNFAVOURABLE LIVING CIRCUMSTANCES

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-126
Author(s):  
MELS MKRTUMYAN ◽  
LILIT MKRTUMYAN
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Psychological Safety ◽  
Safety System ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Functional Capabilities ◽  
Economical Development ◽  
Living Circumstances

The article discusses the changes of the psycho-physiological pecularities of psychological safety system of human activity in unfavourable socio-civil, economical development circumstances of the 21-st century. The pecularities of the changes in negative psychological states, as well as the functional capabilities of a person in unfavourable living circumstances are revealed. The article offers a system for organising psychological work. The mastery of the latter ensures high reliability of person’s general and mental health in different life situations.

Case Studies of PTC-Preventable Accidents

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Schlesinger
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Human Factor ◽  
Transportation Safety ◽  
Train Control ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Train Control System ◽  
Safety Improvement ◽  
Positive Train Control

A 1969 collision of two Penn Central train resulted in four fatalities and forty-five injuries. This accident could have been prevented, had some type of train control system been in place. After this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) asked the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to study the feasibility of requiring railroads to install some type of automatic train control system that would prevent human-factor caused accidents. Over the next almost four decades, a number of additional accidents occurred, culminating in the January, 2005 Graniteville Norfolk-Southern accident and the September, 2008 Metrolink Chatsworth accident. A little more than one month after the Metrolink accident, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act, which requires Positive Train Control (PTC). To better explain the positive train control requirements, this paper traces each to a detailed case study. Four different accidents are studied, each being an example of one of the four, core positive train control requirements. Included in the case study is a discussion about how positive train control would have prevented the accident, had it been present. This provides positive train control implementers and other railroad professionals with a better understanding of the factors that have caused or contributed to the cause of the positive train control preventable accidents studied.

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