Workload in train driving job: Affecting factors and improvement recommendations

Metro driving is one of the newest jobs in Iran. Due to the lack of studies about train drivers’ workload, there is no comprehensive information about factors that effect on workload. This study aimed to analysis the factors that may affect driver workload, in order to recommend the control measures.
In this mixed method study, data generation was made through field observations, document reviews, individual interviews, focus group interviews and focus group discussions. In order to field data collection, The Institute for occupational ergonomics and CCD Design & Ergonomics Ltd’s developed tools were used. Directed content analysis was used to qualitative data analysis.
Overall, 65 factors were extracted as the factors that may affect driver workload. The extracted factors were drawn on a fishbone diagram, over 8 Categories, including management, supervision and organizational climate, infrastructure, job design, journey, and environmental as distal factors and time pressure, information exchanges, and individual factors as Proximal factors.
Some of the distal factors are the nature of an urban transport system, so the only amendment is compensatory programs, and some of them can be resolved by Long-term plans. Anyway, workload of train drivers can be amendment with focus on the proximal factors in short-term, and the distal factors in long-term.