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Session Title: Evaluation Utilization and the Story of the Federal Railroad Administration’s 10 Year Research and Development Effort to Change Safety Culture in the United States Rail Industry
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Panel Session 235 to be held in CROCKETT B on Thursday, Nov 11, 9:15 AM to 10:45 AM
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Sponsored by the Business and Industry TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Michael Quinn Patton, Utilization-Focused Evaluation, mqpatton@prodigy.net
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| Discussant(s):
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| Deborah Bonnet, Fulcrum Corporation, dbonnet@fulcrum-corp.com
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| Abstract:
Over the last 10 years the Human Factors group within the FRA’s R&D Division has been implementing and evaluating a series of innovative projects to change safety culture in the railroad industry from one focused on blame, to one focused on cooperative problem solving. The motivation was to improve safety beyond the limits of what could be done via technological and rule-based procedural changes alone. Each of six programs approached the challenge in a different manner, but they all focused on safety culture and the engagement process to support cooperative problem solving and root cause analysis. The collective finding was that safety culture can be changed, that cooperative problem solving can be done, that root causes can be identified, and ultimately, that safety can be improved. As a result of these findings, the FRA has embarked on a deliberate effort to promote these kinds of programs in the railroad industry.
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High Quality Evaluation Utilization as a Method to Improve Safety Culture Change in the United States Railroad Industry: Challenges, Opportunities, Failures, and Success
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| Michael Coplen, United States Department of Transportation, michael.coplen@dot.gov
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Quality program evaluation often begins with an understanding of the context within which the program operates, proceeding with the development of a program logic model. Program performance measures are then identified and implementation activities begin. As the program evolves through its lifecycle, so too do the implementation activities, the data collected and analyzed, and the logic model depicting the program’s theory of change. In this presentation a program manager from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Research and Development will present a high level summary of its decade-long program of safety culture change in the rail industry, including the context, initial failures, implementation challenges, and major successes, highlighting both the quantitative and qualitative measures that support quality program evaluation.
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Overview of Safety Culture Evaluation Designs
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| Jonathan Morell, Vector Research Center, jonny.morell@newvectors.net
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| Joyce Ranney, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, joyce.ranney@dot.gov
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| Michael Zuschlag, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, michael.zuschlag@volpe.dot.gav
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This presentation will provide an overview of the methodologies employed in each of the evaluations of the six programs that comprise the FRA’s efforts to date. Issues covered will be logic models and design – time series and control groups, stakeholder and key informant interviewing, case study analyses, and the interplay of qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose of the presentation will be to provide an understanding the design, in preparation for the next paper, which will provide results aggregated across all the evaluations.
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Empirical Findings of Safety Culture Initiatives: Data Sources, Analyses, and Findings
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| Joyce Ranney, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, joyce.ranney@dot.gov
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| Michael Zuschlag, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, michael.zuschlag@volpe.dot.gav
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| Jonathan Morell, Vector Research Center, jonny.morell@newvectors.net
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This presentation will provide an overview of the data that was collected, how it was analyzed and the results that were observed. Safety data that were collected include: injuries, derailments, locomotive engineer decertifications. Survey data on safety culture was also collected and analyzed. Formative and summative interviews were conducted and analyzed at all of the demonstration pilot sites. Significant improvements were observed in all of the data sets just mentioned.
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Promoting Industry-wide Impact: Safety Culture Policy, Current Accomplishments, and Plans for the Future
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| Stephanie Morrow, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, stephanie.morrow@dot.gov
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| Michael Coplen, United States Department of Transportation, michael.coplen@dot.gov
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| Joyce Ranney, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, joyce.ranney@dot.gov
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One of the unanticipated outcomes of these demonstration pilots was that, even though the diffusion of these efforts was largely informal, they began to garner broad industry support. The railroad carrier where one demonstration pilot was located launched a system-wide intervention similar to the CSA method. The national unions and carrier management all received awards from FRA commending their participation. Anecdotal evidence suggested acceptance and a general readiness for change within the industry. As a result, the development of a systematic engagement plan is underway that will include all industry stakeholders. This engagement plan aims to distribute the methods more broadly across the industry while continuing to evaluate the changes that have occurred as a result of these programs, including policy changes at industry and organizational levels. This presentation will outline the plan and invite suggestions for making the next ten years of rail safety culture improvements even more successful.
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