Summary: Human factors overtook track defects as the leading cause of railway accidents in 1990, contributing to more than one-third of the 3,000 railroad accidents reported that year. The Hours of Service Act mandates that railroad engineers work no longer than 12 continuous hours, at which point they must be given at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. Yet the act may be having little effect on rail safety because start time variability--the change in work period start times from shift to shift--may be causing widespread fatigue among engineers. When combined with other factors, such as work during early morning hours, variable schedules can decrease performance levels. Reducing the maximum hours allowed per shift from 12 to 10 would at best affect only a small fraction of rail accidents, mainly because so few accidents attributable to human factors occur after 10 hours in an engineer's shift. More importantly, such a reduction could increase the variability of work period start times for those who regularly work such hours, actually increasing fatigue in some cases. GAO urges that to avoid even greater engineer schedule variability, Congress exercise caution if it changes the Hours of Service Act. These changes could lead to more widespread fatigue, particularly in the early morning hours. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Railroad Safety: Engineer Work Shift Length and Schedule Variability, by Kenneth M. Mead, Director of Transportation Issues, before the Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials, House Committee on Energy and Commerce. GAO/T-RCED-92-68, June 10 (13 pages).
