Calabrese Clark, Mejia Bianka, McInnis Catherine A, France Megan, Nadler Eric, Raslear Thomas G
U.S. Department of Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
U.S. Department of Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
J Safety Res. 2017 Jun;61:53-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2017.02.007. Epub 2017 Mar 1.
The purpose of this study is to examine how time of day affects injury risk of railroad maintenance of way employees and signalmen (roadway workers). Railroads reported 15,654 serious roadway worker injuries between 1997 and 2014. Roadway workers primarily work outdoors on or near railroad tracks and frequently encounter hazardous conditions. To avoid closing an active rail line during peak hours, railroads sometimes require roadway workers to work at night. Previous studies of roadway worker injury have not adequately accounted for exposure to time of day effects, nor have they investigated the human factors issues contributing to roadway worker injury.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) database of injury reports provided data for circadian rhythm models of the odds of fatal and nonfatal injuries. The FRA database and fatal injury investigation reports also permitted an analysis of the circumstances and the human factors issues associated with injuries that occur at different times of day.
Odds of injury increased during nighttime work. The odds of nonfatal injury for both roadway worker crafts rose above 9:1 in the early morning hours. The relative odds of a fatal injury also increased significantly at night. A human factors analysis suggested that during all three shifts most nonfatal injuries involve workload, but workload was not identified as a factor in fatal injuries.
Nighttime work is more hazardous for roadway workers than daytime work. Several factors related to fatigue and other conditions appear to increase the risk of injury during the outdoor, nighttime work required of roadway workers.
For practical reasons, nighttime roadway work is sometimes unavoidable. Therefore, new practices for nighttime work must be developed to adequately address fatigue and protect roadway workers from harm.
本研究的目的是探讨一天中的不同时段如何影响铁路养路员工和信号工（线路工人）的受伤风险。铁路部门报告称，1997年至2014年间，线路工人发生了15654起严重工伤事故。线路工人主要在铁轨上或铁轨附近的户外工作，经常面临危险状况。为避免在高峰时段关闭运营中的铁路线，铁路部门有时会要求线路工人在夜间工作。此前关于线路工人受伤情况的研究并未充分考虑一天中不同时段的影响，也未调查导致线路工人受伤的人为因素问题。
联邦铁路管理局（FRA）的工伤报告数据库为致命伤和非致命伤几率的昼夜节律模型提供了数据。FRA数据库和致命伤调查报告还允许对一天中不同时段发生的伤害所涉及的情况和人为因素问题进行分析。
夜间工作时受伤几率增加。两个工种的线路工人非致命伤几率在凌晨时段均升至9比1以上。夜间致命伤的相对几率也显著增加。人为因素分析表明，在所有三个班次中，大多数非致命伤都与工作量有关，但工作量并未被确定为致命伤的一个因素。
夜间工作对线路工人来说比白天工作更危险。与疲劳和其他状况相关的几个因素似乎增加了线路工人在户外夜间工作时受伤的风险。
出于实际原因，夜间线路工作有时不可避免。因此，必须制定新的夜间工作规范，以充分应对疲劳问题并保护线路工人免受伤害。
