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Working around it: Rail drivers’ views on the barriers and enablers to managing workplace health

Anjum Naweed (Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science, Central Queensland University, Wayville, Australia)
Joshua Trigg (Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science, Central Queensland University, Wayville, Australia)
Matthew Allan (Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science, Central Queensland University, Wayville, Australia)
Janine Chapman (Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia)

International Journal of Workplace Health Management

ISSN: 1753-8351

Article publication date: 4 December 2017

377

Abstract

Purpose

The rail driver workplace is full of challenges for effective health management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how known barriers in rail driving may be overcome by seeking enablers of positive health status and lifestyle.

Design/methodology/approach

Five focus groups were conducted with 29 rail drivers from four rail organisations across three Australian states. Transcribed data were analysed using directed content analysis and thematic coding to develop health enabler themes and categories.

Findings

Formal initiatives to manage health were piecemeal. Efforts to maintain health involved countering deteriorative, and promoting restorative, health factors. Themes systematically illustrated work environmental, adaptational, and autonomous features of health management. Participants expressed many different approaches to enabling positive health status, and how these connected to known barriers.

Research limitations/implications

Discussion of personal health issues within the rail industry is considered a taboo topic by some, therefore participants who took part in this study data may be more representative of health-conscious drivers.

Practical implications

Occupational health in rail can be enabled in multiple ways, including: improving social support, scheduling certainty, and cross-communication around health behaviours; increasing flexibility and environmental support for health behaviours; and directly promoting dietary control and physical activity engagement. Given the diversity and global representativeness of rail systems found within Australia, the findings have international application.

Originality/value

This study uses a strength-focussed approach to highlight multiple leverage points for organisational rail-driver health interventions across three levels of the system, helping improve health intervention efficacy despite the intractable nature of their environments.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, and the Australasian Railway Association for supporting this research. The authors are very grateful to the anonymous rail organisations that supported and facilitated data collection. This project was entirely funded by Central Queensland University (Grant sponsor: Central Queensland University, Merit Grant; Grant number: HE0306; Grant title: Health Status, Lifestyle Habits, Accident Risk and Organisational Outcomes: A Study of Australian Train Drivers).

Citation

Naweed, A., Trigg, J., Allan, M. and Chapman, J. (2017), "Working around it: Rail drivers’ views on the barriers and enablers to managing workplace health", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 10 No. 6, pp. 475-490. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-08-2017-0060

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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