Tracey Milne — Integrated Human Factors (IHF) Chief Operating Officer — will be presenting on how a Rail Behaviours Observation Survey and Audit (RBOSA) was developed to assess Northern Trains’ current approach to Non-Technical Skills (NTS) within safety-critical roles at the International Human Factors Rail Conference 2025.

The conference — hosted by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) — will be at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London on the 18th and 19th of September.

The session titled “RBOSA: Identifying and Improving Non-Technical Skills in Safety-Critical Roles” will cover how the RBOSA determined the effectiveness of the current approach to NTS and identified threats to NTS such as communication and fatigue. The RBOSA, believed to be the first use of such a tool in Europe and only the second time globally, was deployed across Northern Trains’ operations in 2022.

Co-written with IHF Human Factors Consultants Aidan Henderson and Jodie Dix, the presentation will take place between 14:30 and 14:55 in the Lutyens & Donne room on day two of the conference.