Great Western Railway’s Andy Long looks at the importance of post-incident reporting.
We often have to ‘stop, breathe, focus, and take time to consider our actions' in order to get post-incident right when we’re stressed.
In Right Track 40, Suzanne Anderson, a trainer at RSSB, reminded us of the importance of looking at what happens after an incident. Here, I’m going to dig deeper and examine why post-incident reporting sometimes falls apart and the tools that can assist us in such a difficult time.
I’m sure we can all relate to past incidents that have suffered from either poor reporting or a failure to report at all. This led me to recall an event that happened some years ago in my own driving career. Sometime after midnight on a wet and wintry night, a signal reverted to danger around 10 yards in front of my train and I sailed past, experiencing a TPWS brake demand. Not my fault on this occasion, but there was an immediate stressful response as I wondered what had happened and double-checked my memory of the signalling sequence whilst worrying whether the train was in a safe position. GSM-R had not yet been introduced, so I trudged back to the signal post in the rain and made a garbled and emotional report to the signaller.
The immediate moments following any incident will cause the human body to release stress hormones, resulting in changes to the way our bodies and minds behave. Often called a ‘fight-or-flight response’ an adrenaline surge leads to increased heart rate and rapid breathing. This immediate increase in stress levels is hard to control and can easily interfere with our levels of perception and communication. This often means we stop listening to those around us, including those with safety-critical information. It also affects our ability to convey that information.
If we’re aware of these physiological triggers, we can put positive actions into place. Many years ago, I was told to ‘roll a fag’ in these situations. In other words, stop, breathe, focus, take time to consider your actions. A series of three to five deep, slow breaths can help to bring your body back under control and focus your mind.
As drivers, we have a tool bag that we can draw on. In that bag is our deep-seated knowledge of rules and routes that will help us to make the right decisions about reporting the incident and what the ongoing risks might be. Our non-technical skills also sit in that bag, helping us to prioritise our actions correctly, helping us anticipate the risk of what might happen if we fail to pass on the right information and helping us structure our communication clearly and accurately, in a calm and professional manner. Organisations need to recognise the ongoing need to train and upskill frontline staff with these tools.