Promoting Teamwork When Lives Depend on It: What Matters in the Railroad Industry?

Railroad operations are an example of a complex sociotechnical system that is dependent on the work of multiple individuals separated by time and space. The system’s performance is contingent on how coordinated the individuals on the teams are, how those individuals accept their goals (i.e., subset and overall goals), how they all use the unique type and amount of information that is available to them, and how they incorporate their perspective to accomplish the overall team goal. The fact that every member of a team understands and accomplishes their individual task well does not mean that the team will perform successfully. In the past, one third of all railroad accidents were attributed to human factors; however, recently, in 2004, that statistic has increased to 40% (Sussman and Raslear, 2007). Some of the reported examples of causes of railway accidents are loss of alertness and cognitive speed, operator fatigue, improper signal detection, and communication error. However, the most-cited human factor cause of accidents is fatigue of the operators. Unexpected events and environmental stressors can significantly alter the workload a particular team experiences. Under conditions of operator fatigue, these events and stressors can result in catastrophic results. Each individual or team reacts differently to the levels and sources of workload presented during the completion of a task. Regardless of the sources of workload, proper training and preparation, the adoption of strategies appropriate for the situation, effective leadership, and effective teamwork can counteract some of the negative effects of workload (i.e., task demands, environmental stressors, and fatigue). This paper begins with the definition of a team as well as what is known as a multiteam system. It then provides an overview of how rail crews function.