bombardier yardsafe
Simplifying safety... at scale.
In Bombardier’s continuing interest in worker safety, they turned their focus on the rail yard, where the cars and engines are repaired. Rivit Technologies and Galati Creative were charged with the project.
Traditionally, workers in the yard would use a pegboard located in the managers’ office, with their name tags hung to indicate their location in the yard.
This system is OK with 4-6 tracks and 50 or so employees, all visible through the window of the main office. But when scaled to 18 plus tracks, trains moving on and off throughout the day, hundreds of employees, and tens of thousands of square feet of repair space, it becomes more than a logistical challenge, it becomes dangerous.
Galati Creative developed a digital dashboard and navigation language inspired by the London Underground subway maps. This consistent visual language comprises custom and ubiquitous iconography, a colour-coding system and typographic hierarchy.
There are two user contacts with YardSafe: The Trackside display and the Wayside unit.
The Trackside display
The Trackside display comprises one or two large monitors mounted in the lunch or break room. This display provides workers and managers a quick view of the activity in the yard. Data for the display comes from Manager’s and Foreman’s input, as well as the input of each worker as they tap on and off units in the yard throughout the day.
The Wayside unit
The Wayside unit is a kiosk situated in multiple locations throughout the yard, allowing workers to use ID cards to tap on or off a particular unit. Large iconography and graphics allow users to easily tap through, even with gloves on. Once tapped in, users can, with limited clicks, find the track and unit they need to access. To simplify the experience, the interface only displays units that are safe to enter. For managers, the interface provides an intuitive and graphical means to select and change the state of any unit in the yard, from any kiosk.
“Unlike other UX/UI resources we’ve used, Carm really drives the requirements phase for the entire project team. His approach to UX and UI is, as it is with all his communication design, intentional, deliberate, and with purpose.
Carm takes his queues from the end users, asking the right questions to better understand their needs, intentions, and motivations. This thorough exploration of the requirements refines and solidifies the client’s ultimate understanding and intentions.
His translation of the requirements to design always results in a clean and intuitive user interface, with a focus on the end user.”
David Robinson, Partner, Rivit Technologies
The next phase
The development of Yardsafe has been ongoing for 4 years. Most recently, we were asked to incorporate a task / docket system into the interface. This allows managers to input work orders into system for workers to select before entering a unit.
The new feature blends seamlessly into the interface and was an intuitive update for users. Along with the wayside unit, the information is incorporated into a new display to show progress on every task, for every unit in the yard.
