Developing a framework of behaviours before suicides at railway locations

Ryan, Brendan

Abstract

Better knowledge of behaviours of people at railway property could help with identifying those at risk of suicide. Literature has been reviewed from a range of disciplines on what is known about studying behaviour in this type of public location. Secondary analysis has been carried out on descriptions of behaviour from structured exercises with experts and other pre-existing sources. A framework has been produced with five main classes (display of emotion, appearance, posture/movements, activities and interactions) and associated sub-classes. Commentary has been provided on factors that influence identification of suspicious behaviours, how to distinguish these from normal behaviours and the circumstances that inhibit timely reactions to the behaviour amidst the complexity of the operational railway. Opportunities to develop and use the framework are discussed, including using this to prompt collection of additional behavioural data from wider resources, enhancing staff training and developing requirements for effective use of surveillance technologies.

Citation

Ryan, B. (2018). Developing a framework of behaviours before suicides at railway locations. Ergonomics, 61(5), 605-626. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2017.1401124

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 27, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Publication Date: May 4, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 7, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 16, 2018
• Journal: Ergonomics
• Print ISSN: 0014-0139
• Electronic ISSN: 1366-5847
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Open
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 61
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 605-626
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2017.1401124
• Keywords: Suicidal behaviour; railway; reporting; observation; surveillance technologies
• Public URL: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/47928
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139.2017.1401124
• Copyright Statement: Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Ergonomics on 15 November 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00140139.2017.1401124