Introduction. Ensuring traffic safety on the railway network involves the development of complex predictive models that take into account both the state of technology and the influence of the "human factor" in order to minimize the risk of erroneous actions and prevent accidents.
The study aims to research the mistakes of railway transport operators (using the example of locomotive crew workers).
Materials and methods. The authors have conducted the study on the basis of analysis of the database of erroneous actions of employees of locomotive crews (2020–2021), submitted by the Research Institute of Railway Transport (according to the agreement on joint scientific cooperation between the Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health and Research Institute of Railway Transport).
Results. The database recorded 104,515 cases attributed to 291 types of erroneous actions with qualitative differences that reflected the degree of risk to the safety of train traffic. The most common categories of violations related to the maintenance of train documentation, errors in locomotive control, non-compliance with the speed limit, disconnection of locomotive safety devices, speeding, brake control violations, violations of the rules of negotiations, the passage of a forbidding signal. In relation to employees who committed violations, the most common disciplinary penalties were identified (analysis of the case in technical classes, deprivation of an employee of a bonus in the amount of 25, 50 and 100%). In a number of cases, several different disciplinary penalties were applied to one employee at the depot for the same violation.
Limitations. Inability to get access to the protocols of psychophysiological examination of employees of locomotive crews.
Conclusion. The obtained scientific results allow us to assert that the productivity and safety of the operator's activity correlates with the level of professional training and the mechanisms of its inclusion in the activity. The prospects for further research of the problem of ensuring the safety of locomotive crews' employees consist in a detailed study of the combined effect of factors of the working environment and the labor process in conditions of increasing labor intensity, increasing speeds and volumes of railway transportation. It is necessary to study the ratio and role of such indicators as reliability, professional suitability and readiness of the employee to perform functional duties in the event of an emergency.
Ethics. The study was carried out on the basis of documents submitted by JSC "Russian Railways". The documents contained the number and typology of mistakes made by employees of locomotive crews in the period 2020-2021. The scientists have conducted the study in accordance with the Ethical principles of anonymity, confidentiality, respect for the rights of the subject of the study, the principles of scientific and impartiality.
