What is the problem?
Operating a train requires complex human interaction and an engineer’s
complete attention and proficient skill. All too often, however,
engineers or safety-critical personnel supporting rail operations are
impaired by fatigue stemming from insufficient or poor-quality sleep.
Fatigue degrades a person’s ability to stay awake, alert, and attentive
to the demands of controlling their vehicle or doing their job safely.
The effects of fatigue may not be recognized until it’s too late.
Even when an individual has enough time to get rest, other issues—
such as medical conditions, unpredictable or inverted work schedules,
living environment, and personal choices—can affect one’s ability to
obtain quality sleep.
Fatigue research has found associations between rail crew fatigue
and long working hours, heavy workload, early morning or night shifts,
and insufficient sleep. Poor working environment, particular job roles,
and individual differences also contributed to fatigue.
A 2006 Federal Railroad Administration-sponsored study determined
that a fatigue model that predicts sleep lengths and worker
effectiveness based on work schedule data could discriminate
between accidents that were attributed to crew errors (human factors
accidents) and those that did not.
The traveling public can unknowingly and unwillingly be placed at risk
because a fatigued operator cannot safely perform his or her duties.
What can be done?
In February 2019, NTSB determined that:
Fatigue is a manageable threat to
transportation safety that can be
mitigated by a combination of science-based
regulations, comprehensive
fatigue risk management programs,
and individual responsibility. We
have issued more than 200 safety
recommendations addressing fatigue
across all modes of transportation.
To address the problem of fatigue, the following actions should be taken:
Railroad Operators/Industry
- Establish fatigue risk management programs and continually
monitor their success to reduce risks for personnel performing
safety-critical tasks. These programs take a comprehensive, tailored
approach to address the problem of fatigue within an industry or
workplace. Such programs include policies or practices to address
scheduling, attendance, education, medical screening and treatment,
personal responsibility during nonwork periods, task and workload
issues, rest environments, commuting, and napping.
- Collaborate to develop a model national labor agreement that
supports effective programs for addressing sleep disorders and
other medical conditions among safety-sensitive personnel.
Regulators
- Provide guidance to operators, transit authorities, and physicians
to help them identify and treat individuals at high risk for obstructive
sleep apnea (OSA) and other sleep disorders.
- Require railroads to medically screen employees in safety-sensitive
positions for OSA and other sleep disorders.
- Using current fatigue science, provide initial and recurrent training
on work schedule issues to mitigate risks that contribute to operator
fatigue.
- Develop medical certification regulations for employees in safety-sensitive
positions that include, at a minimum, a complete medical
history (including specific screening for sleep disorders, a review
of current medications, and a thorough physical examination),
standard testing protocols across the industry, and central oversight
of certification decisions for employees who fail initial testing.
Consider requiring that medical examinations be performed by those
with specific training and certification in evaluating medication use
and health issues related to occupational safety on railroads.
- Research new methods to identify fatigue and mitigate associated
performance decrements in on-duty crews.
Medical Community
- Ensure that board-certified physicians in family medicine receive
enhanced and ongoing training so they can successfully identify risk
factors for, evaluate, and treat OSA in their patients.
< back to issue area | < back to Most Wanted List
