Identification of resilience factors in rail engineering work

This paper discusses an ongoing project that aims at improving the potential for resilience of a system responsible for the planning of rail engineering work delivery. It focuses on the use of a human factors based approach as a way to achieve this end. In particular, the paper discusses the initial data collected by means of interviews and how this process gave way to a two fold goal: Understanding how the planning process works in reality and identifying any critical aspects of the system from a Resilience Engineering perspective. Given the nature of the process under study, information flows and communication issues have been given particular attention throughout the data collection and analysis stages. Initial data confirms that the planning process is greatly reliant on the capability of people using their knowledge and skills to communicate in a dynamic informational environment. Finally, the added value of the interviews is discussed from a human factors perspective and as a mean towards the aim of better understanding resilience in rail engineering planning.

Resilience in rail engineering work

This paper discusses an ongoing project that aims at improving the potential for resilience of a system responsible for the planning of rail engineering work delivery. This is being addressed by means of a methodology based on the observation and analysis of “real” planning activities, using resilience engineering concepts as a background. Interviews with planners have been carried out to provide an overview of the planning process and steer more in-depth investigation. Analysis of historic information and observation of planners’ main activities is underway. Given the nature of the process under study, information flows and communication issues have been given particular attention throughout the data collection and analysis stages. Initial data confirms that the planning process is greatly reliant on the capability of people using their knowledge and skills to communicate in a dynamic informational environment. Evidence was found of communication breakdowns at the boundaries of different planning levels and teams. The fact that the process is divided amongst several different areas of the organisation, often with different goals and needs, creates potential sources of conflict and tension.

Understanding safety and production risks in rail engineering planning and protection

Much of the published human factors work on risk is to do with safety and within this is concerned with prediction and analysis of human error and with human reliability assessment. Less has been published on human factors contributions to understanding and managing project, business, engineering and other forms of risk and still less jointly assessing risk to do with broad issues of ‘safety’ and broad issues of ‘production’ or ‘performance’. This paper contains a general commentary on human factors and assessment of risk of various kinds, in the context of the aims of ergonomics and concerns about being too risk averse. The paper then describes a specific project, in rail engineering, where the notion of a human factors case has been employed to analyse engineering functions and related human factors issues. A human factors issues register for potential system disturbances has been developed, prior to a human factors risk assessment, which jointly covers safety and production (engineering delivery) concerns. The paper concludes with a commentary on the potential relevance of a resilience engineering perspective to understanding rail engineering systems risk. Design, planning and management of complex systems will increasingly have to address the issue of making trade-offs between safety and production, and ergonomics should be central to this. The paper addresses the relevant issues and does so in an under-published domain – rail systems engineering work.

A restauração nos transportes turísticos : o catering no comboio TGV europeu : projecto de empresa para explorar o catering do TGV em Portugal

Este projecto apresenta-se em três capítulos, antecedida da introdução onde serão apresentadas as questões teóricas, metodológicas e conceptuais. No primeiro capítulo faremos um enquadramento dos conceitos relacionados com o transporte turístico, em particular o ferroviário, onde serão focalizados a estratégia e competitividade, a gastronomia, a restauração, bem como catering. No segundo capítulo faremos a análise do catering do TGV europeu, analisando os serviços de catering de cada TGV, examinaremos a importância das linhas TGV para o futuro do turismo no espaço europeu, bem como esboçaremos um indicador de atractividade potencial do catering a bordo do TGV. No terceiro capítulo concentraremos o foco na concepção de um projecto empresarial para a exploração do catering a bordo do TGV para ligação de Lisboa a Madrid, tendo por base as previsões de passageiros anunciadas pela RAVE, projectando receitas e despesas potenciais para os próximos cinco anos, respeitando os indicadores de gestão para o sector, com base em três cenários (realista, optimista e pessimista). Finalmente, inferiremos se a empresa apresentará potencial para ser viável ou inviável do ponto de vista operacional e financeiro, com base nas opções tomadas ao longo do projecto de dissertação.