Abstract
The present paper reports the results of a questionnaire-based survey of night train operators’ attitudes toward management, operating procedures, and other organisational issues that potentially impact on safety. Responses were collected from all of the operators of track maintenance trains servicing the Japanese high-speed railway (Shinkansen). Two versions of the questionnaire, the TMAQ (Train Management Attitudes Questionnaire), were developed based on Helmreich’s FMAQ (Flight MAQ) and its derivative, the SMAQ (Ship MAQ). The TMAQ and its progenitor seek to elicit respondents’ views of, and attitudes to, a range of safety related factors including morale, motivation, leadership and human relations in their organisation.
To identify dimensions of safety culture as elicited through the TMAQ, a principal component analysis was applied to the questionnaire responses of the original TMAQ. The analysis yielded seven attitude factors, including morale and motivation. Of the seven factors, a close correlation was identified between the factor scores representing operators’ morale and motivation and the actual accident/incident rates for each of the five branches belonging to a single-track maintenance company. A branch that employed train operators having relatively higher morale and motivation exhibited a lower accident/incident rate. Furthermore, the very same correlation was also found for company based responses collected from all track maintenance companies working for the high-speed railway.
In addition to the branch and company based comparisons for track maintenance train operators, we also compared attitude factors between different groups of operators (drivers and supervisors), and between two different periods surveyed in a two year interval. Finally, we examined differences in terms of attitude factors between track maintenance operators and seafarers surveyed by applying slightly different variants of the same generic form of questionnaire (Helmreich’s SMAQ). Based on these survey results, we discuss potential risk factors for accidents of track maintenance trains and some implications for improving railway safety.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ACSNI (1993) Advisory committee on the safety of nuclear installations: Human Factors Study Group Third Report: Organising for safety. HSE Books, Sheffield, UK
Amalberti R (1998) Automation in aviation: A human factors perspective. In: Garland D, Wise J, Hopkin D (eds) Aviation human factors. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 173–192
Andersen HB (2002) Assessing safety culture. Technical Report R-1459, Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark
Andersen HB, Garay G, Itoh K (1999) Survey data on mariners: Attitudes to safety issues. Technical Report I-1388, Systems Analysis Department, Risø National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Bryant DT (1991) The human element in shipping causalities. HMSO, London
Clarke S (1996) The effect of habit as a behavioural response in risk reduction programmes. Safety Science 22 ,1–3:163–175
Clarke S (1999) Perceptions of organizational safety: Implications for the development of safety culture. Journal of Organizational Behavior 20:185–198
Cox SJ, Cheyne AJT (2000) Assessing safety culture in offshore environments. Safety Science 34,1–3:111–129
Diaz RI, Cabrera DD (1997) Safety climate and attitude as evaluation measures of organizational safety. Accident Analysis and Prevention 29,5:643–650
Donald I, Canter D (1994) Employee attitudes and safety in the chemical industry. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 7,3:203–208
Donald I, Young S (1996) Managing safety: An attitude-based approach to improving safety in organisations. Leadership and Organization Development Journal 17,4:13–20
Flin R, Mearns K, O’Connor P, Bryden R (2000) Measuring safety climate: Identifying the common features. Safety Science 34,1–3:177–192
Griffiths DK (1985) Safety attitudes of management. Ergonomics 28:61–67
Harrald JR, Mazzuchi TA, Spahn J, Van Dorp R, Merrick J, Shrestha S, Grabowski M (1988) Using system simulation to model the impact of human error in a maritime risk assessment. Safety Science 30:235–247
Hee DD, Pickrell BD, Bea RG, Roberts KH, Williamson RB (1999) Safety management assessment system (SMAS): A process for identification and evaluating human and organization factors in marine system operations with field test results. Reliability Engineering and System Safety 65:125–140
Helmreich RL (1984) Cockpit management attitudes. Human Factors 26:63–72
Helmreich RL (2000) Culture and error in space: Implications from analog environments. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 71,9:A133–A139
Helmreich RL, Merrit AC (1998) Culture at work in aviation and medicine: National, organizational and professional influences. Ashgate, Aldershot, UK
Helmreich RL, Merritt AC, Sherman PJ, Gregorich SE, Wiener EL (1993) The flight management attitudes questionnaire (FMAQ). Technical Report 93–4, Aerospace Crew Research Project, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
Helmreich RL, Merrit AC, Wilhelm JA (1999) The evolution of crew resource management in commercial aviation. International Journal of Aviation Psychology 9:19–32
Hollnagel E (1998) Cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM). Elsevier, London
Hurst NW, Young S, Donald I, Gibson H, Muyselaar A (1996) Measures of safety management performance and attitudes to safety at major hazard sites. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 9,2:161–172
Itoh K, Andersen HB (1999) Motivation and morale of night train drivers correlated with accident rates. Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer-Aided Ergonomics and Safety, Barcelona, Spain, May 1999 (CD ROM)
Margetts BD (1976) Human error in merchant marine safety. The National Research Council, Washington DC
Miller DP, Swain AD (1987) Human error and human reliability. In: Salvendy G (ed) Handbook of human factors. Wiley, New York, pp 219–250
Pidgeon NF (1991) Safety culture and risk management in organizations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 22,1:129-140
Pidgeon NF, O’Learry M (1994) Organizational safety culture: Implications for aviation practice. In: Johnston NA, McDonald N, Fuller R (eds) Aviation psychology in practice. Avebury Technical Press, Aldershot, UK, pp 21–43
Powell PI, Hale M, Martin J, Simon M (1971) 2000 accidents: A shop floor study of their causes. National Institute for Industrial Psychology, London
Reason J (1993) Managing the management risk: New approaches to organisational safety. In: Wilpert B, Qvale T (eds) Reliability and safety in hazardous work systems. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hove, UK
Reason J (1997) Managing the risk of organizational accidents. Ashgate, Aldershot, UK
Schneider B, Reichers AE (1983) On the etiology of climate. Personnel Psychology 2:19–39
Sheehy PN, Chapman AJ (1987) Industrial accidents. In: CL Cooper and IT Robertson (eds) International review of industrial and organizational psychology. Wiley, New York
Sherry P (1991) Person-environment fit and accident prediction. Journal of Business and Psychology 5,3:411–416
van Vuuren W (2000) Cultural influences on risks and risk management: Six case studies. Safety Science 34,1–3:31–45
Williamson AN, Feyer A-M, Cairns D, Biancotti D (1997) The development of a measure of safety climate: The role of safety perceptions and attitudes. Safety Science 25,1–3:15–27
Zohar D (1980) Safety climate in industrial organizations: Theoretical and applied implications. Journal of Applied Psychology 65:96–101
Acknowledgements
We are heavily indebted to Robert L. Helmreich, from the University of Texas at Austin, who provided not only the original Flight Management Attitudes Questionnaire, but also contributed to the adaptation of his survey instrument to the maritime domain, which in turn made it possible to transfer this to the railway domain.
We would also like to acknowledge Kunihiro Kondo, Takehiro Hoshino, Masahiro Kawagoe and Ken-ichiro Hisanaga, of the Central Japan Railway Company, as well as Toshitatsu Ishii and Jushiro Takahashi, of Nihon Kikai Hosen, Co. Ltd., and Akikazu Umoto and Norimasa Nogawa, of Futaba Tetsudo Kogyo Co. Ltd., for their cooperation in this project. We also thank Satoru Mashino, of Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Thomas Bove, of Risø National Laboratory, for their assistance with the data analysis of the questionnaire.
Finally, we are most grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and points of criticism from which the paper has benefited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Itoh, K., Andersen, H.B. & Seki, M. Track maintenance train operators’ attitudes to job, organisation and management, and their correlation with accident/incident rate. Cogn Tech Work 6, 63–78 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-003-0135-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-003-0135-x