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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Ghost trains: Australian rail in the early stages of the global COVID‐19 pandemic
Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, Vol.31(4), pp.438-444
2021
Appears in COVID-19 Research
Abstract
The rail industry, as with all sectors worldwide, has faced disruptions due to the global COVID‐19 pandemic. This commentary considers how rail organizations in Australia have engaged within the early stages of the crisis, outlining the challenges faced and how they were addressed. Relying on our observations, and anecdotes obtained from others across the Australian rail industry, we identified a range of impacts including determining service delivery levels (and the associated running of " ghost trains "), implementing hygiene measures and social distancing, managing training and medical assessments , and changes in the behavior of passengers and members of the public (including aggression toward staff and increased instances of trespass). Within rail organizations , we saw changes to communication and control structures, new challenges related to balancing priorities (managing risk of rail accidents vs. virus transmission risk), and negative impacts on job design offset by increased informal support for frontline workers. Importantly, from the crisis, we gained new insights about culture. Finally, we provide recommendations regarding how the Human Factors and Ergonomics discipline can support safe and effective rail operations in the context of both widespread crises such as pandemics as well as the less dramatic, but ever present, shifts in the physical, social, economic, and political environments in which rail organizations operate.
Details
- Title
- Ghost trains: Australian rail in the early stages of the global COVID‐19 pandemic
- Authors
- Anjum Naweed (Corresponding Author) - Central Queensland UniversityJanet E Jackson (Author) - University of WollongongGemma Read (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
- Publication details
- Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, Vol.31(4), pp.438-444
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Date published
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.1002/hfm.20886
- ISSN
- 1520-6564; 2157-4650
- Copyright note
- © 2021 The Authors. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Grants
- Organisation Unit
- Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; School of Health - Psychology
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99510606302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Engineering, Manufacturing
- Ergonomics
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Source: InCites