Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 15
Literature Review 15
It is further noted that such errors are less likely to be associated with the more severe accidents
since they receive greater investigative scrutiny.
The following recommendations are made for conducting verification and validation at various
levels of the reporting process:
1. Improvements in the railroad's internal control plan to ensure that missing and corrected
data are provided to the railroad safety officer,
2. Review of reports by railroad safety officer prior to submission to FRA,
3. Use of edit checks within FRA's data entry system, and
4. Performance of cross-field and cross-record checks.
The information is posted on the FRA Internet site, providing others with an opportunity to
review entries and comment on their authenticity.
2.2.2 Project 5 Overview--Developing Common Data
on Accident Circumstances
Project 5 Overview--Developing Common Data on Accident Circumstances (Bureau of
Transportation Statistics) describes a project undertaken to evaluate data currently available
from which to identify the factors and circumstances that are present in transportation
crashes and incidents. A comparison also is made to what is needed by investigators and
researchers to improve analysis effectiveness, leading to recommendations that are made for
how to enhance data quality. The overall objective of the activity was to identify those data
elements needed for adopting a common framework of factors across a wide variety of events
and modes.
Included within the scope of the study were crashes or mishaps meeting all of the following
conditions:
1. Involving the movement or operation of a vehicle, vessel, aircraft, pipeline, or other con-
veyance in the course of moving people or goods,
2. Occurring within a U.S. jurisdiction or involving a U.S. commercial carrier,
3. Being either intentional or unintentional in nature, and
4. Resulting in substantial property damage or injury, or the death of a passenger, crewmember,
pedestrian, other worker, or bystander within 30 days of the event.
Data reviewed as part of the project included reports filed with U.S.DOT agencies, other fed-
eral agencies, and some non-federal agencies (e.g., state medical examiner offices). The basis for
performing an evaluation of these data was the Haddon Matrix, a conceptual framework used
to analyze risk factors or prevention measures for mishaps and injuries. The Haddon Matrix
divides an event into three chronological phases (1) pre-event (contributing to event likelihood),
(2) event (influencing likelihood and severity of an injury), and (3) post-event (affecting likeli-
hood of survival/recovery). Each of these phases is further divided into four groups of risk fac-
tors (1) operator, (2) vehicle, (3) physical environment, and (4) social/cultural/organizational
circumstances.
Among the data gaps and limitations discovered from applying this methodology were the
following:
· Some important data elements are rarely collected, such as data on the injury mechanism,
operator fatigue, distractions, and alcohol use;
· Lack of information on injury type and severity;
· Lack of a narrative description in reports, or information contained in narratives is not used;
· Lack of detail on human factors;
