Journal of Ergonomics
Open Access

A Brief Discussion of Loco Pilot Fatigue

Bailry Oginda^{* *}Correspondence: Bailry Oginda, Department of Railway Safety, Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya, Email:

Author info »

Description

The primary task of loco pilot is to operate trains, which takes up 50%-63% of their shift. The longest duration of time spent in the cab was 2.5 hours. The train driver must ensure that the train is driven safely, effectively, and on time on the track. Loco pilot must remain awake, perceive, understand, recognize, predict, and respond on environmental signals in specific conditions during the entire driving duty. He must be able to concentrate and complete their tasks accurately. It is necessary to pay selective, divided, and persistent attention (e.g., vigilance). Loco pilot should also be able to remember essential information. They must be able to deal with high emotional demands, limited decision-making authority, and a lonely working environment. Additional responsibilities, such as helping wheelchair boarding or increasing the number of platform stops, often raise the danger of train driver fatigue in addition to ensuring the train's routine operation is safe. As a result, loco pilot' workloads are so great that they might easily become exhausted.

Fatigue is a multi-faceted condition marked by a loss of mental alertness, decreased physiological activities, and drowsiness. Driving weariness causes the driver to get distracted, increase operational errors, reduce information perception, processing judgement, and operational ability, and cause micro sleep and drowsiness. According to the causes of driving tiredness, researchers describe it as central nerve weariness, psychological fatigue, or physical fatigue.

When the muscles are not performing at high intensity and the neural system is under high tension for long periods of time, this is known as central nervous weariness. It is caused by monotonous and laborious job, which causes diminished function and neural activity inhibition in the brain. Loco pilot continually receive and digest external information while driving for lengthy periods of time, and they are frequently confronted with numerous emergencies, which cause nerves to become extremely tense. As a result, their brain nerves are extremely active, and their brain loads are extremely high. Furthermore,long-term monotonous driving diminishes the driver's stimulation, lowering attentiveness, delaying thinking, and reducing memory, resulting in central nerve weariness.

Driving tiredness caused by psychological reasons is known as mental fatigue. It frequently happens when you're first learning to drive. Loco pilot in this state report feeling fatigued, losing interest in driving, and even being bored and tired. Loco pilot who suffer from mental weariness do not have a lower ability to finish the driving task. Rather, they lack the subjective desire to complete the activity.

Due to extended hours of driving or high intensity driving, physical weariness causes stiffness, numbness, and discomfort in the driver's body organs. Frequent driving operations result in continual muscle contraction and energy substances in the muscles during extended or high-intensity driving. Furthermore, the formation of metabolites such lactic acid and carbon dioxide induces organ sluggishness, stiffness, and even pain. Metabolites enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body, stimulating brain neurons and causing weariness. A fixed driving position also creates stiffness and discomfort in the back of the driver.

Loco pilot have their own distinct driving styles. He can drive without making frequent driving movements because to highly automated train operations and fixed rails. As a result, physical weariness is clearly not the predominant cause of driving fatigue in the train driver population. Furthermore, loco pilot are highly skilled professionals who must complete considerable training before being licensed to operate trains. As a result, the likelihood of mental exhaustion is low. Train driving is a typical monotonous driving scenario in which the train driver must keep an eye on the operation for an extended period of time. Because the railway track is consistent and monotonous, and the train driving route is long and time-consuming, train central nerve weariness is unavoidable.

Conflict of Interest

Author has declared that he has no conflict of interest.