Crew Resource Management (CRM) Training for the Railroad Industry Phase I: Railroad Industry Observation and Job-Function Classification

Project Description

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is a human factors (HF) training process that has been employed in the commercial aviation industry for over 25 years. During that time period, CRM has been credited with contributing to a marked decrease in HF-caused accidents. TTI researchers were involved in a multi-year project for the Federal Rail Administration that focused on adapting CRM for use in the railroad industry across all job functions and crafts.

In phase I of the project, TTI researchers assessed the structure of existing teams at a representative cross section of railroad companies in the U.S. The project

• identified the makeup of common workplace teams;
• described the interaction of personnel assigned to those teams;
• documented and evaluated existing human factors/CRM training programs at the North American Class I railroads; and
• identified obstacles to introducing CRM training more widely in the railroad industry.

The final report on this phase of the work outlined the available training methodologies that could be used to implement CRM. A copy of this report may be obtained at the FRA's website.

For a complete description of this project and a list of the training materials produced, see the project page on this site.

Link

Link: CRM Phase I Description

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