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What is HOF?
Human and Organisational Factors (HOF) study interactions between humans and system elements, using theories and methods to optimize human well-being and system performance (International Ergonomics Association).
HOF, also known as Human Factors or Ergonomics outside the rail sector, integrates knowledge from various sciences such as Management, Sociology, Design, Politics, Economics, Psychology, Physiology, and Engineering. This broadens the study to include organisational, cultural, and political factors affecting safety (ERA).
HOF supports safety integration in design and identifies gaps between prescribed tasks and actual work, addressing residual risks. This approach enhances management in complex organisations like railway systems, crucial for safety improvements (European Railway Agency).
What are HOFs in concrete terms?
Human Factors is one of those terms that everybody has heard of, but the full scope of what human factors covers isn’t always obvious. Human Factors (the American term), ergonomics (the UK term), or Human and Organisational Factors (ERA term), is about designing work in a way that matches the abilities, needs and limitations of the people doing the work. It is a very broad discipline, rooted in an understanding of the psychology and physiology of humans, but applying that knowledge to the design of equipment, tools, information, processes, and procedures. Read more
Why do people make errors?
What are non-technical skills?
What are error prevention techniques?
Why do people break rules?
What are performance influencing factors?
Our Solutions
Enhancing safety management
The safety management system (SMS) is part of the business processes of the organisation and is not just a paper-based system specifically developed for demonstrating compliance with the regulatory framework. …
Categories
- Safety culture
- Safety leadership
- Return on operating experience
- HOF in change management
- HOF in event investigation
- HOF in Design
- HOF in risk management
- Just and Fair Culture
- Competence management system
Human Performance
The term Human Performance refers to the contribution that humans make to the performance of a system. It describes how people carry out their work, whether as an individual or as a team, in order to meet a required objective. ….
Categories
- Non-technical skills
- Fatigue management
- Human error (and violations)
- Workload
- Vigilance and distraction
- Fitness for duty
- Physical ergonomics
- Stress
- Situation awareness
- Attention
HOF regulations, standards and tools
The systematic integration of HOF cannot be done without having a consistent reference base in the form of regulations, standards and tools. This basis makes it possible to develop the integration of HOF in the Safety Management System (SMS). …
Categories
HOF in practice
The human factors discipline provides a theoretical knowledge base which can be applied to optimise systems for safety, human performance and wellbeing. These theory, principles, and methods can be applied in at different stages of the lifecycle …
Categories
Share Your Experiences
The SNCF’s Just & Fair approach
What are the key HOF issues?
In 2015, SNCF launched a major safety program (called PRISME) to improve its overall safety performance. As baseline of this program, the company has deployed a Just & Fair (J&F) approach to create a climate of trust and then encourage everyone to report safety problems and thus being able to fix them.
What did you do?
To support its just culture ... READ MORE
How to use the SPAD toolbox – RSSB
https://www.rssb.co.uk/what-we-do/key-industry-topics/spad-good-practice-guide/how-drivers-can-manage-spad-risk/how-to-use-the-spad-toolbox READ MORE
SPAD Good Practice Guide – RSSB
https://www.rssb.co.uk/what-we-do/key-industry-topics/spad-good-practice-guide READ MORE
Mühl, K. (2021). Automated Railway – Operation as Usual: Best Practice to Achieve Situational Awareness. Automation myth busting series
Abstract This article aims to provide insights into achieving situational awareness as a basis for safe automated railway operations. Automation in rail transport has a significant influence on employees' situational awareness (perception, understanding and anticipation of the situation), which in turn depends on the degree of automation, task characterisation, the design of the humanmachine interface and information ... READ MORE
E-learning course on Safety Culture at RENFE
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_text]What are the key HOF issues? Training is a key aspect in the cultural transformation and the improvement of the safety culture. The Renfe Group has designed in its e-learning platform the course “CREATING A SAFETY CULTURE. YOU ARE THE PROTAGONIST.”. The course has been designed to be addressed to any employee of the Renfe Group, regardless of their previous knowledge, and the contents READ MORE