Track worker safety : investigating the contributing factors and technology solutions

The maintenance of tracks and track side infrastructures is considered to be one of the most hazardous jobs in the rail industry. Track worker safety is a major concern for the rail industry as track worker fatalities and incidents tend to occur every year despite the improved safety measures that are implemented. The CRC for Rail Innovation project ‘R3120 -Track Worker Protection Technology’ is looking into the available track worker protection systems and analysing them for adoption in Australia. Part of the research includes investigating the common contributing factors that lead to a track worker fatality or incident, other human factors and procedural issues. It is essential these topics are analysed in order to understand the nature of protection that is required for the Australian rail environment and the effectiveness of introducing additional track worker protection systems into the Australian rail network. Some of the identified factors and technology solutions are discussed in this paper.