Page No.237-245
Vishnu Kumar
Psycho-Technical Directorate, RDSO, Lucknow
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The job of driving a train demands a steady level of alertness and sustained attention,
which in addition to other cognitive and psychomotor attributes is crucial for ensuring
safety in train operation in consonance with stipulated safety rules and procedures. Lack
of alertness directly impacts safety therefore, it needs to be overcome for ensuring safe
train operation. The present study was conducted with this objective in two interrelated
phases. In the first phase, alertness and cortical activation were assessed in three
different driving conditions before commencement and after completion of duty. Results of
the first phase revealed that those who performed two consecutive night duties exhibited
deterioration in overall performance as compared to their colleagues who performed
one night duty and one day duty; however, drivers in all the three driving conditions
showed shoddy performance after completion of duty. In the second phase, an attempt
was made to enhance alertness of locomotive drivers by using an intervention module
and the findings suggested that intervention improved their performance on two tasks
of alertness.
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