Sophia Rainbird

No Pet or Their Person Left Behind: Increasing the Disaster Resilience of Vulnerable Groups through Animal Attachment, Activities and Networks

Simple Summary The potential for reconfiguring pet ownership from a risk factor to a protective factor for natural disaster survival has been recently proposed. But how might this resilience-building proposition apply to members of the community who are already considered vulnerable? This article addresses this important question by synthesizing information about what makes seven particular groups vulnerable, the challenges to increasing their resilience and how animals figure in their lives. It concludes that animal attachment could provide a novel conduit for accessing, communicating with and motivating vulnerable people to engage in resilience building behaviors that promote survival and facilitate recovery. Abstract Increased vulnerability to natural disasters has been associated with particular groups in the community. This includes those who are considered de facto vulnerable (children, older people, those with disabilities etc.) and those who own pets (not to mention pets themselves). The potential for reconfiguring pet ownership from a risk factor to a protective factor for natural disaster survival has been recently proposed. But how might this resilience-building proposition apply to vulnerable members of the community who own pets or other animals? This article addresses this important question by synthesizing information about what makes particular groups vulnerable, the challenges to increasing their resilience and how animals figure in their lives. Despite different vulnerabilities, animals were found to be important to the disaster resilience of seven vulnerable groups in Australia. Animal attachment and animal-related activities and networks are identified as underexplored devices for disseminating or ‘piggybacking’ disaster-related information and engaging vulnerable people in resilience building behaviors (in addition to including animals in disaster planning initiatives in general). Animals may provide the kind of innovative approach required to overcome the challenges in accessing and engaging vulnerable groups. As the survival of humans and animals are so often intertwined, the benefits of increasing the resilience of vulnerable communities through animal attachment is twofold: human and animal lives can be saved together.

Investigating the formal countermeasures and informal strategies used to mitigate SPAD risk in train driving

Various countermeasures are used to mitigate signal passed at danger (SPAD) events on railways, yet they continue. While risk factors that destabilise cognitive processes have been identified, less has been published on the relationship between these factors and the informal strategies that drivers themselves adopt to reduce individual SPAD risk. This study aimed to address this gap and used a participative approach to collect and thematically analyse data from 28 drivers across eight rail organisations in Australia and New Zealand. The results showed not all formal countermeasures were considered effective, and identified several informal strategies. These aimed to reduce task disruption, service distortion and maintain connectedness to signals. While some evidenced redundancies in the task and cab, others did not reduce baseline risk. This paper explores the relationship between the established risks and identified strategies towards evaluating the utility of formal and informal mitigations. The research has application to the investigation of collision risk in all transport domains. Practitioner Summary: A participative approach was used to investigate SPAD mitigation techniques in train driving, and to explore risk-strategy relationship dynamics. Several informal strategies designed to reduce task disruption, service distortion and maintain signal connectedness were identified. While some evidenced redundancies in the task and cab, others did not reduce baseline risk.

Signs of respect: embodying the train driver–signal relationship to avoid rail disasters

Abstract Train driving is a complex and dangerous activity. If a signal is passed at danger (SPAD), a driver experiences one of the most safety critical failure modes of rail. Train drivers are not only significantly emotionally and professionally impacted by SPADs that they have experienced; they are also affected by their potential occurrence. Using a mobilities approach, we identify SPAD risk reduction strategies that train drivers generate during dynamic interactive encounters with signals, between human/machine, time/space, structured movement/unstructured movement. Drivers form an intimate relationship whereby the signal is viewed with both reverence and contempt. Drivers anthropomorphise the signal, and predict SPAD potentiality aimed at outwitting the signal. We suggest that this human–signal interface offers new perspectives of SPADs, revealing that a signal means more than stop–caution–go.

Occupational fatigue and other health and safety issues for young Australian workers: an exploratory mixed methods study.

Youth are vulnerable to sleep loss and fatigue due to biological, social and psychological factors. However, there are few studies addressing the risk that sleep loss and fatigue pose for youth in the workplace. The aim of this study was to explore work health and safety (WHS) issues for young workers and develop strategies and solutions for improved WHS outcomes, with a focus on issues related to fatigue, using a mixed-method, multi-stage approach. Participants either completed a survey (n=212) or took part in focus groups (n=115) addressing WHS for young workers, or attended a Future Inquiry Workshop (n=29) where strategies for improving youth WHS were developed. Fatigue was identified as a significant problem by the majority of young workers and was associated with unpredictable working time arrangements, precarious employment, high workload, working overtime and limited ability to self-advocate. Participants identified six key areas for action to improve WHS outcomes for young workers; 1) develop expertise, 2) give young workers a voice, 3) improve education and training, 4) build stakeholder engagement, 5) increase employer awareness of WHS responsibilities and, 6) improve processes for employers to manage and monitor WHS outcomes. The application of these directives to fatigue is discussed.

Recovering Time or Chasing Rainbows? Exploring Time Perception, Conceptualization of Time Recovery, and Time Pressure Mitigation in Train Driving

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS The effects of performance pressure were explored by investigating how train drivers (i.e., Locomotive Engineers) perceived time, conceptualized its loss and recovery, and mitigated time pressure. Different perspectives of time as a fixed or an uncontrollable entity were identified, but the perception that time was being patrolled (i.e., policed) was unanimous. Mitigations associated with reprioritizing tasks and molding time were identified and related specifically to the different views. This study illustrates the problems associated with self-regulation when the contributing risk factors are a normal and everyday part of the organization and task environment. This study also provides new information regarding how train drivers view the time requirement in their task and manage their interactions with other functional groups. The results may be used as a basis for further work to glean insights into the types of error that find their way into the ‘driver misjudged’ category of critical failures. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Background: A signal passed at danger happens when a train passes a rail signal set to a stop indication and encroaches into a railway where it does not have authority to be. In this respect, it is rather like a car going through a red light. Signal passed at danger events continue to impact safety-risk on railways, despite the introduction of technologies aimed at addressing their cause and effect. Previous work has identified time pressure and certain aspects of the way train drivers (Locomotive Engineers) and controllers (Dispatchers) interact as key risk factors. Exposure to these could give rise to distraction and/or inattention from safe driving, distort service delivery requirements, and fundamentally alter the drivers perception of risk. Purpose: This study undertook a new and more specialized analysis of existing data to investigate how drivers perceived time and conceptualized its loss and recovery within their driving task, and how they mitigated time pressure. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with train drivers from eight urban passenger rail organizations across Australia and New Zealand using a generative scenario simulation task. Results: Drivers had varying perspectives of time, either as a fixed aspect of the task, or as something that was uncontrollable. However, every driver perceived time as an aspect of the task that was being patrolled. Time pressure mitigation strategies associated with reprioritizing tasks and molding time were identified, both of which had specific relationships with other themes. A conceptual model is given integrating the findings of this study to previous work. Conclusions: Train drivers have diverse perspectives of the time requirement of their task, which influences their understanding of time loss and recovery. While some strategies to mitigate time pressure aim to reprioritize sub-tasks, others aim to remove time requirements from service delivery goals altogether. The three time-related themes and related mitigated strategies were novel to the study conducted and reported in this article.