Use of scenarios and function analyses to understand the impact of situation awareness on safe and effective work on rail tracks

► Safe trackwork needs to consider the role of situation awareness for effective barrier functions. ► Situation awareness for trackwork is composed of geographical, temporal and social elements. ► Situation awareness for trackwork requires an understanding of interpretation and sense-making. ► Local knowledge of geography, people and terminology is a critical component of situation awareness during trackwork. This paper illustrates the value of the notion of situation awareness in the context of rail maintenance and trackwork. Illustrative scenarios, based on reported incidents, are analysed to demonstrate the nature of situation awareness in trackwork. A functional analysis is then presented to understand how situation awareness is constructed and maintained in trackwork and the types of events or disrupting factors that might lead to human factors risks to safety and productivity. These analyses highlight the importance of a shared understanding of both location and time for the protection required in trackwork, resilience in the face of short term re-planning, expertise and local knowledge, and the importance of effective strategies for distributing awareness across people and artefacts.