Tuesday 15 July 2014
Security, Safety and Research

Results from the RESTRAIL project disseminated at ICAP 2014

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Last week, from 8 – 13 July 2014, Paris hosted the 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology (http://www.icap2014.com/). The event is organised every four years in many different regions and countries by the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) to disseminate knowledge and technology developments in applied psychology and to promote cooperation among psychologists around the world.

This year more than 4,500 participants joined the event. The central theme of the congress was “From crisis to sustainable well-being”. The scientific programme was organised according to the different disciplines of Psychology and included one dedicated topic on Traffic and Transportation Psychology.

The RESTRAIL research project (REduction of Suicides and Trespasses on RAILway property) was disseminated at ICAP 2014 through two presentations and distribution of Newsletters. The presentations were scheduled on 11 July 2014 during the thematic session entitled “Prevention devices” and on 12 July 2014 during the “Changing behaviour incitation” session. Both presentations were well received by the audiences which ranged between 40 and 50 persons.

The first communication was about “Safety measures against railway trespass” (Grigore M. Havârneanu, Jean-Marie Burkhardt, Anne Silla):
http://www.icap2014.com/program-detail_626/prevention-devices?date=&langue=&theme=&topic=&type=&mots=havarneanu

It presented the results of a systematic review conducted in RESTRAIL, showing a list of recommended measures for the prevention of trespass and a summary of the studies which provide evidence for the effectiveness of these measures. The discussion was focused on the combination of measures in order to reinforce the effect on behaviour and on the efficiency of safety measures on different types of trespassers, in different locations or railway environments.

The second communication was about “A toolbox for the reduction of suicides and trespasses on railway property” (Grigore M. Havârneanu, Virginie Papillault, Marie-Hélène Bonneau):
http://www.icap2014.com/program-detail_631/changing-behavior-incitation?date=&langue=English+speaking&theme=1&topic=21&type=35&mots=Havarneanu
The presentation informed the scientific community about the systematic process through which the toolbox has been developed, and provided a summary of the content, organisation and functions of the toolbox.

This tool was developed in RESTRAIL under the coordination of UIC with both practical and scientific aims. On the one hand it is a guide to best practice supporting better decision-making for the implementation of prevention and mitigation measures. On the other hand, it provides a framework for collecting and structuring evidence-based information in order to feed an accessible and documented database on measures across the scientific and rail community.

The final RESTRAIL event will be hosted by UIC in Paris on 18 September 2014.

For further information about the RESTRAIL toolbox please contact Grigore Havarneanu: havarneanu@uic.org;

For further information about the RESTRAIL project please contact Marie-Hélène Bonneau: bonneau@uic.org or visit the project’s webpage: www.restrail.eu

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Grigore M. Havârneanu, UIC