ABSTRACT
There are at least three approaches that could be taken to determine whether or not this criticism is justified. The first approach would be to recreate the condition in a signal control room environment, and see how a range of signalers deal with the event. This approach could be criticized on the basis that the signalers would be primed for the event, unless some deception was involved. The second approach would be to use Klien’s critical decision methodology, in order to interpret the activities of the signaler in question. This approach could be criticized on the basis that the event took place some 4 years ago, and therefore the recall will be unreliable. A third approach would be to use cognitive modeling techniques, to create an idealized response of what the signaler could have been expected to have done, given the data with which he was presented. The final approach would be to look at other emergency handling response times in other industries. This has the benefit of
offering independent data on how long it generally takes people to respond in these types of situation. This latter approach was adopted in this study.
