Inspired by daily train travel and the constant drone of ignored safety messages, this project by Adeoti, a User Experience and Ergonomics Master's student dives deep into the phenomenon of "Tannoy spam" in UK rail stations. Using expertise in Cognitive Ergonomics and Crowd Science, the research explored why passengers tune out vital safety and security information. The findings led to three strategic design proposals that aim to cut through the noise, enhance passenger engagement, and ultimately support greater safety compliance across the complex rail network.
You hear it 50 times a day as a regular commuter: 'Stand behind the yellow line.'
I regularly travel by train. During my travels, I've noticed that many passengers ignore the safety and security announcements delivered via station public address systems.
The UK’s rail network includes a lot of aged infrastructure which poses many hazards that are difficult to engineer out. Therefore, announcements are an important safety tool, but their proliferation has prompted ongoing public discussion around “Tannoy spam”.
What first made you focus on rail announcements for your Master’s project?
The UK’s rail network includes a lot of aged infrastructure which poses many hazards that are difficult to engineer out. Therefore, announcements are an important safety tool, but their proliferation has prompted ongoing public discussion around “Tannoy spam”.
For my master’s project, I decided to explore why passengers seem to ignore important safety messages. Based on my findings I aimed to propose ways to better engage their attention, supporting greater safety compliance.
My project made full use of the knowledge I’ve accumulated during my degree in Cognitive Ergonomics, Systems Ergonomics and Inclusive Design as well as a new area of study for me, Crowd Science. I also used my qualitative research expertise to collate and analyse my valuable data.
I devised a passenger survey and a station staff interview schedule. Piloting them at Nottingham train station helped me to refine both. For example, I expanded the survey to include questions about hazard perception and attitudes towards security responsibility.
How did the initial pilot study change your approach?
When I had concluded my survey and staff interviews at Nottingham and London Paddington, I transcribed and cleaned my data before beginning a thematic analysis which proved fairly challenging.
However, further research and reading helped me to map my findings to the main components of the rail announcement system (its goals, people, culture, technology, infrastructure and processes) and how each of these elements impact each other. This enabled me to start identifying my key design recommendations.
In addition to collecting data from passengers and station staff, I also collaborated with representatives from the Rail Safety Standards Board and the People on Trains and at Stations Risk Group. These representatives and station staff formed my study’s industry expert group.
What was the most surprising insight you gained from the industry experts?
Their insights were crucial in helping me to understand how crowds and emergencies are managed. They also offered expert insight into passenger behaviour as well as the priorities and culture of National Rail.
By the end of my project, I’d certainly learned a lot about the mechanisms Network Rail and train operators use to share information – and had picked up many of the industry’s acronyms and terminology.
One very important transferable skill I honed was my ability to recruit members of the public for a survey and conduct interviews that produce useful and meaningful data.
The results of the study helped me to craft three design proposals to improve the messages shared via station public address systems to enhance passenger engagement.
Can you briefly describe your three main design proposals?
- Manual rather than automated announcements seem to appeal to travellers particularly if they are novel, timely and provide clear instruction. Customised to the location and situation, they provide a sense of “here and now”, designating the station as a shared space where everyone has some responsibility for safety and security.
- Roving microphones that communicate with passengers in specific areas, such as an individual platform, would reduce blanket, station-wide noise easing announcement fatigue.
- Announcements that clearly state the negative impacts of not following safety and security advice would be beneficial. For example, standing too close to the platform edge could lead to someone falling onto the tracks.
This is exactly the kind of horrific incident and cause of major travel disruption that announcements aim to avoid which is why we should all reflect on our role in personal and collective safety and security across the transport network.
What is the next challenge you would tackle in this area of research?
Were I to pursue my research in this area, I would approach Network Rail’s Built Environment Accessibility Panel and work alongside travellers with visual impairments as well as those with noise sensitivity and who are neurodivergent. This would explore the role and importance of announcements for these passengers.
I would like to pursue a career as a Human Factors (HF) Engineer. I am looking at roles in the medical devices and transport industries where HF is well established.
The medical devices industry is highly regulated. I want to use my skills to make more accessible products that meet regulatory requirements and deliver innovative healthcare to people.
Meanwhile, transport, especially rail, is interesting because of the need to incorporate HF into new automation, so that it is safe and beneficial within such a complex sociotechnical system.
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