Collecting and analysing human factors data from the UK rail industry

摘要

This paper describes the Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS) which has been running since September 1996 for a number of railway companies in the UK. The aim of the system is to collect reports from individuals of near misses, incidents and error-promoting conditions, which would not normally be reported through normal channels, and to use this information to enhance existing safety management systems. CIRAS is confidential and "blame free", and therefore staff can report not only technical failures, but also operator or human errors without fear of recrimination and discipline. Reports are initially made on a self-completion form or by telephone, and individuals are then interviewed to enable researchers to collect more detail. The interviews are taped with permission and provide a rich source of data for further analysis. The CIRAS human factors model is described in detail and examples of the types of analyses which can be performed on the data are demonstrated.