[Management of stressing events and prevention of post-traumatic stress in the railroad setting]

The paper addresses the proper management of events that can lead to post traumatic stress, that are the situations where: the person experienced or witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. This document results from a collation of the knowledge acquired by railway undertakings and infrastructure managers on the management and prevention of post-traumatic stress. Having surveyed the various strategies for the management of post-traumatic stress as these are applied in the participating countries, a number of recommendations and best practices were identified and these are presented in this guide. This guide comprises two parts: * A theoretical document comprising several parts: Part one deals with the fundamental notions involved in post-traumatic stress and potentially traumatic events; Part two deals with a strategy for managing potentially traumatic events and sets out a reference framework to this end. This strategy is broken down into five key phases: risk assessment, preparation and prevention, intervention, post-intervention and follow-up, appraisal, including reports from experience. Practical "check sheets" stating the key messages to be understood and/or the specific actions to be taken before, during or after a potentially traumatic event. These sheets are intended for operational staff, managers, directors and support workers. This guide was prepared by a working group under the supervision of the UIC Safety Platform's Occupational Health and Safety Group (OHSG). The working group brought together psychologists, occupational physicians, ergonomists, safety experts, managers and safety directors. It is the fruit of interdisciplinary collaboration, marrying the concerns, needs and knowledge of railway undertakings and infrastructure managers from a variety of European countries.