Communicating well to improve safety in a high stress environment: Transit officer training

Abstract

This paper draws on the experience of one of the authors, an ethnographic researcher (Bernard 2000; Orr 1996), who in the course of her investigation into the everyday work and communication cultures of public transport officers spent twelve weeks undergoing training as a rail transit officer before spending four months on the job where she was rostered on duty alongside the regular transit officers (Teague & Leith 2008a; Teague, Green & Leith 2010a). In addition to immersing herself in the world of the transit officers the researcher, Christine Teague, conducted extensive interviews with trainees, experienced officers and supervisors. The object of the research was to determine strategies to reduce risk and injury to the rail transit officers. The four year project was funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant. While the researchers have been immensely grateful for the support of the Public Transport Authority (Western Australia) (PTA) in partnering this research, the findings are those of the research team alone and the PTA is no longer involved in the project. In this paper the employer organisation is referred to as the RTA, Rail Transit Authority.