Anjum Naweed, Joshua Trigg, Matthew Allan and Janine Chapman
The rail driver workplace is full of challenges for effective health management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how known barriers in rail driving may be overcome by…
Abstract
Purpose
The rail driver workplace is full of challenges for effective health management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how known barriers in rail driving may be overcome by seeking enablers of positive health status and lifestyle.
Design/methodology/approach
Five focus groups were conducted with 29 rail drivers from four rail organisations across three Australian states. Transcribed data were analysed using directed content analysis and thematic coding to develop health enabler themes and categories.
Findings
Formal initiatives to manage health were piecemeal. Efforts to maintain health involved countering deteriorative, and promoting restorative, health factors. Themes systematically illustrated work environmental, adaptational, and autonomous features of health management. Participants expressed many different approaches to enabling positive health status, and how these connected to known barriers.
Research limitations/implications
Discussion of personal health issues within the rail industry is considered a taboo topic by some, therefore participants who took part in this study data may be more representative of health-conscious drivers.
Practical implications
Occupational health in rail can be enabled in multiple ways, including: improving social support, scheduling certainty, and cross-communication around health behaviours; increasing flexibility and environmental support for health behaviours; and directly promoting dietary control and physical activity engagement. Given the diversity and global representativeness of rail systems found within Australia, the findings have international application.
Originality/value
This study uses a strength-focussed approach to highlight multiple leverage points for organisational rail-driver health interventions across three levels of the system, helping improve health intervention efficacy despite the intractable nature of their environments.
Details
Keywords
Anjum Naweed and Angelina Ambrosetti
The purpose of this paper is to investigate workplace learning in the context of the rail industry, specifically for the type of learning required to become a train driver. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate workplace learning in the context of the rail industry, specifically for the type of learning required to become a train driver. It examines the impact of changes to the traditional learning model, and explores the potential of mentoring in the learning/training model.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a participative research approach to examine training experiences with trainee drivers and driver trainers (n = 61) in six Australian rail organisations. The data are synthesised based on an inductive thematic analysis from focus groups, interviews and cab-rides.
Findings
Current driver-learning approaches contain a number of haphazard elements that provide an unfavourable learning experience. Mentoring practices appear to be happening incidentally, despite train drivers wanting mentoring experiences.
Practical implications
In the designing and planning of new driver-learning frameworks, it is important to identify the unintended consequences of implementing a condensed “classroom” curriculum. The condensed and accelerated driver-learning model currently used could be enhanced through the incorporation of a mentoring process.
Originality/value
The article fills an important research gap in the space of workplace learning and mentoring in the rail industry. The themes and findings provide a basis for why mentoring should be integrated as part of the training process. It draws attention to the importance of the situational context, and contributes to communities of practice by outlining important considerations for a holistic model of mentoring in the rail industry.