Helena Rådbo1, Inge Svedung, Ragnar Andersson. 1. Department of Social Sciences, Division of Public Health Sciences, Karlstad University, SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden. helena.radbo@kau.se
Abstract
PROBLEM: Suicide is a dominating, although hidden, safety problem on Swedish railroads. The aim of this paper is to describe the epidemiology of fatal train-person collisions as a basis for systems-oriented prevention. METHOD: Data on collision circumstances were collected from narrative reports at the Swedish National Rail Administration. RESULTS: The events were evenly distributed by months and weekdays, however, most suicides occur during the day while unintentional events usually occur at night. Most train-person collisions happened in densely populated areas, and 75% of the suicide victims were waiting on the track before the collision. Significance test between types of injury event (suicide, accident, or unknown intent) showed small or no differences. CONCLUSION: Traditional approaches to accident prevention by systems modification seem largely applicable to combat railroad suicide as well. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Our findings show promising preventive potentials.
PROBLEM: Suicide is a dominating, although hidden, safety problem on Swedish railroads. The aim of this paper is to describe the epidemiology of fatal train-person collisions as a basis for systems-oriented prevention. METHOD: Data on collision circumstances were collected from narrative reports at the Swedish National Rail Administration. RESULTS: The events were evenly distributed by months and weekdays, however, most suicides occur during the day while unintentional events usually occur at night. Most train-person collisions happened in densely populated areas, and 75% of the suicide victims were waiting on the track before the collision. Significance test between types of injury event (suicide, accident, or unknown intent) showed small or no differences. CONCLUSION: Traditional approaches to accident prevention by systems modification seem largely applicable to combat railroad suicide as well. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Our findings show promising preventive potentials.
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