Meet the team - specialising in Human Factors
Accident Investigations need input from a wide variety of specialist fields. Human Factors is one of these areas
Tabitha Steel
I began working at the RAIB in business support in 2012, doing a variety of administrative tasks. This was the beginning of a second career for me, as I had recently completed an MSc in Human Factors, and was my first full time role for a few years. I have found the RAIB such a great place to work in terms of work/life balance – it allowed me the flexibility to be at home when I needed to but also to develop my career and fulfil my own professional goals.
The value of my human factors qualification and knowledge were recognised early on by RAIB and I began to provide human factors input to investigations alongside my support role. I attended courses on many different aspects of the railway and training on areas as diverse as trauma risk management and interviewing vulnerable witnesses, which helped me progress into the new role of investigation support officer in 2018. In this position I assisted inspectors by providing human factors research so that all aspects of the individual, the task, and the work environment were considered in investigations.
In 2020 I applied for, and was appointed to, the role of inspector of rail accidents. In order to be fully qualified in this role, there followed about a year of intensive training on all aspects of the railway industry. This is required as an RAIB inspector may be called to the scene of, or to investigate, any type of accident, whether or not it is the individual’s specialism. As a result of this I have since led diverse investigations, using my own knowledge as well as getting input from the rest of the team.
There are around 20 inspectors at the RAIB from many aspects of the rail industry, between us we are on call all year round and are able to deploy to accidents anywhere in the country. We each retain our specialisms and assist each other as required during the investigation process and take part in the review process of any relevant investigations.
The RAIB is a small, friendly organisation made up of number of specialists and support throughout the branch is always available. It is an environment where it is possible learn from the best! I have been encouraged and supported in my career advancement and I have had the opportunity to learn from others with human factors experience internally and through contact with external human factors specialists in other safety critical industries and attendance at conferences and courses. The work is interesting and challenging and overall it is incredibly rewarding to know that your work contributes to improving the safety of railways in the UK.