Integrated Human Factors (IHF) and UKTram will be sharing a stand at the upcoming 19th Annual UK Light Rail Conference 2025 in Leeds, England. The event will be held on the 22nd and 23rd of July at University of Leeds with Andrew Grant attending on behalf of IHF.

Delegates will have the opportunity to learn more about the evolution of the BaselineNC workplace fatigue monitoring wearable, view the latest insights from testing and discuss the role of innovation in supporting a safer, more resilient light rail sector.

BaselineNC is now in a phase of operational testing with Edinburgh Trams in Scotland and DKV Debreceni Közlekedési Zrt. in Hungary, following years of collaborative development.

Beginning as the Driver Innovation Safety Challenge (DISC), through to FOCUS+ and now BaselineNC the project has seen the collaboration of academia and industry to develop a world leading workplace fatigue monitoring system that can help save lives, reduce risk and deliver efficiencies in public transport but also across industry sectors.

Edinburgh Trams have supported the development of BaselineNC, that monitors and analyses drivers’ and mobile workers’ fatigue and well-being levels. Pioneering a pre-emptive — identifying symptoms early that could indicate future loss of focus, inattentiveness and performance — and not reactive approach to accident prevention.

This has led to significant milestones such as:

• Through collaboration with City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Napier University, Integrated Human Factors (IHF), Scotland CAN DO, Transport for Edinburgh and UKTram, Edinburgh Trams piloted a wearable fatigue management solution.
• Initial trials in Edinburgh provided useful biometric data to enhance the BaselineNC algorithms through machine learning, leading to 36 devices being distributed amongst volunteers from networks in Blackpool, Edinburgh, Manchester and Sheffield, as well as at UKTram.
• Leading to a wider EIT Urban Mobility project involving between 50-70 workers in Edinburgh and at DKV Debreceni Közlekedési Zrt. in Debrecen, Hungary, providing valuable data on how the system functions across different modes of public transport.

The initial proof of concept trials at the Edinburgh Trams Gogar Tram Depot Simulator provided operational evidence — from a combination of comprehensive IHF and independent assessment results — that BaselineNC delivers effective situational awareness monitoring of fatigue onset with 98% biometric data accuracy.

With the wearable assessed and trialled for suitability, the system is now being tested for operational scenarios. With one of the objectives to humanise the implementation against key metrics such as user adoption and acceptance. For example, the establishment of procedures and processes when the onset of worker fatigue is detected.