Colour Blind

[as400]

Red, green and brown....

Thinking of applying for a shunter/train preparer role.

Will being CB rule me out?

Thanks.

 

[Rockhopper]

Yes sadly unless you can pass the test.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Welcome to the forum as400!

Should you be able to see a number or something in your avatar, presumably it's one of those patterns used for testing colour blindness?

 

[Inthe4foot]

Welcome to the forum as400!

Should you be able to see a number or something in your avatar, presumably it's one of those patterns used for testing colour blindness?

i hope not, I can’t see one :/ I’ve just done my medical and it was Pretty easy (if your not colour blind that is) lol

 

[EssexGonzo]

I will add blue, purple and any other colours that resemble each other to your list!

Way back when I was a teenager, I was told that I had to discount driving trains as a career choice because every attempt at the Ishihara test was a disaster.

Traffic lights are "top-middle-bottom" for me. Car rear lights are flash = amber, steady = red, steady and coming towards me = white! Project paperwork at work, using RAG statuses, must state the letters R-A-G and not just be a nice colour in square on a spreadsheet!

I hope you find what you're looking for - I joined a bank but I wouldn't make the same choice if I were making it know. There must be disciplines on the railway that don't require 20/20 colour vision?

 

[Stigy]

The basis of how colour blind you are is usually judged using the Ishihara process and if you cannot pass this, that’ll be that I’m afraid. If you’re mildly colour blind and can pass this, then it’s game on.

 

[as400]

My avatar is a slide taken from the Ishihara test for colour blindness. I'm guessing there is a number in it somewhere!...the job spec talks about responsibility for cleaning the trains...not sure how colour blindness should effect that...maybe its the shunting bit you can't do if you have problems with red/green/brown etc....IE you get asked to shunt the red train and shunt the green one instead? = chaos.

 

[CreamNCookies]

I suspect it may be down to the signals?

Red, yellow and green.

 

[StoneRoad]

Just to confuse the situation.

IIRC a couple of the Ishikara slides don't have a number, and a couple have more than one number ...

The traditional test was to sort a bunch of wool threads into batches by colour (not helped by them being covered in oil, coal dust etc)

 

[Stigy]

My avatar is a slide taken from the Ishihara test for colour blindness. I'm guessing there is a number in it somewhere!...the job spec talks about responsibility for cleaning the trains...not sure how colour blindness should effect that...maybe its the shunting bit you can't do if you have problems with red/green/brown etc....IE you get asked to shunt the red train and shunt the green one instead? = chaos.

It’s more down to signal recognition as well as other railway signage (there’s a lot of it). Being safety critical, you’d be responsible for the movement of trains, so would need to easily differentiate between signals expects etc.

Your avatar is not from the Ishihara scale that you’d be tested on in the book at your medical (there’s no recognisable number, letter or image on it.....I hope lol). If they were all like that, I’d fail and my colour vision is fine. I assume if they do include that image it’s to make sure you’re not cheating

 

[SGD5891]

It’s more down to signal recognition as well as other railway signage (there’s a lot of it). Being safety critical, you’d be responsible for the movement of trains, so would need to easily differentiate between signals expects etc.

Your avatar is not from the Ishihara scale that you’d be tested on in the book at your medical (there’s no recognisable number, letter or image on it.....I hope lol). If they were all like that, I’d fail and my colour vision is fine. I assume if they do include that image it’s to make sure you’re not cheating

I was thinking the same thing, as I couldn’t see any numbers or letters in the avatar

 

[ian94]

It’s more down to signal recognition as well as other railway signage (there’s a lot of it). Being safety critical, you’d be responsible for the movement of trains, so would need to easily differentiate between signals expects etc.

Your avatar is not from the Ishihara scale that you’d be tested on in the book at your medical (there’s no recognisable number, letter or image on it.....I hope lol). If they were all like that, I’d fail and my colour vision is fine. I assume if they do include that image it’s to make sure you’re not cheating

They definitely had one like that in my test just to check, I really freaked out as I couldn't find anything and after saying I couldn't find anything a few times, she just said it was a trick one and I was so relieved haha

 

[StaffsPM1]

There are one or two in the test that someone who ISN'T colour blind can't see anything but someone with specific colour blindness will see a number...

 

[Dynamonic]

There are one or two in the test that someone who ISN'T colour blind can't see anything but someone with specific colour blindness will see a number...

This.

When I did my medical, there were a couple where you actually had to be colour blind to see the number.

 

[CW2]

I'm mildly red-green colourblind - enough to fail the Ishihara tests. The result was I was very restricted in what I could and couldn't do on the railways. In short, my choices were limited to an "indoor" career, so nothing involving being on my own in an operational environment (where failure to understand the signals might put either myself or other people at risk). I was turned down for an Operations Apprentice post in my teens, and I thought it was the end of all my hopes. In fact I made a successful career on the railways by specialising in Control work, project planning, and timetabling. (I think nowadays the Controllers have more stringent requirements than when I was around).

In brief - don't waste your time applying for anything involving outdoor work on the railways if you are colourblind. That might seem a bit negative, but it saves you having your hopes dashed at a later date. Look at the job specs carefully, and if in doubt, ask the recruiter.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Same as me, can't pass the plate tests so best off accepting you can't apply for anything safety critical at least.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Surely systems could be made using colours or symbols that neatly everyone can see (+x-°^>< etc), to avoid disadvantaging a significant proportion of the (male) population

 

[CW2]

Surely systems could be made using colours or symbols that neatly everyone can see (+x-°^>< etc), to avoid disadvantaging a significant proportion of the (male) population

For desktop work, maybe yes, but outdoors in the rain in poor light, I'd trust a person who can distinguish different blobs of colour rather than expecting him / her to determine a particular shape.

 

[TSG]

Surely systems could be made using colours or symbols that neatly everyone can see (+x-°^>< etc), to avoid disadvantaging a significant proportion of the (male) population

You could make systems that let deaf/blind people drive a train or act as a signaller, or fly planes for that matter. Are those reasonable adjustments and do they introduce unjustifiable additional risk though? Reliance on a western alphabet and the English language excludes billions of people but we seem to get by

 

[ian94]

If you've done a colour blindness test in your assessment day, will they do it again in your medical?

 

[whoosh]

Red and yellow air pipes to potentially attach, being a Shunter.

It's not just signals and handsignals.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

The pipes could have different joiners to make fitting them wrongly impossible

Colour lights could have shapes as well as colours to make them even easier to see

 

[Dieseldriver]

The pipes could have different joiners to make fitting them wrongly impossible

Colour lights could have shapes as well as colours to make them even easier to see

We could also fit braille to signal plates to make it easier for blind Drivers to read them....

 

[43066]

The pipes could have different joiners to make fitting them wrongly impossible

Colour lights could have shapes as well as colours to make them even easier to see

This is in the realms of fantasy.

How are you supposed to distinguish one shape, from a different one a few inches below, when the signal head might be over a mile away? Greens can clearly be distinguished from reds at this distance.

Next you’ll say: “but semaphore signals are shapes”, and I’ll say “not when viewed at night they aren’t!”

We could also fit braille to signal plates to make it easier for blind Drivers to read them....

Or just employ permanent second men to accompany them to call out the signal aspects. Of course they’ll need to be put through the full drivers’ course too.

 

[Coach Carter]

The pipes could have different joiners to make fitting them wrongly impossible

Colour lights could have shapes as well as colours to make them even easier to see

You try distinguishing a circle from a square or a + from an x at half a mile away or doing 100mph

 

[T-Karmel]

As Andy Pacer said above, you won't be able to undertake any safety critical role, which I believe includes all of those which you desire of doing in the railway, however there are some other non-safety critical jobs available that you would be accepted for and be able to undertake safely, those might be for instance but not limited to selling tickets or protect revenue. Only thing that I know for sure, one company will easily allow you to do that, and another will still tests you like a safety critical person regardless the fact of you doing non-safety critical duties only. Hence, I'd ask them about it once I'd get invited to the interview.

About your profile picture, indeed it is like the one taken from the Ishihara test, however there is no number on it. And yes, they do appear on tests too as tricky ones. I was really surprised when I've seen it for the first time and I wasn't expecting a board without number

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Sighted people even with good colour vision may make mistakes
Pipes with different connectors might make mistakes less likely

Most people who are 'colour blind' can in fact detect many colours

 

[4F89]

Sighted people even with good colour vision may make mistakes
Pipes with different connectors might make mistakes less likely

Most people who are 'colour blind' can in fact detect many colours

Yellow and red pipes don't actually fit each other, so there is a physical difference already. One has a star valve, one doesn't. So if connected YR, they won't work.

 

[Coach Carter]

Sighted people even with good colour vision may make mistakes
Pipes with different connectors might make mistakes less likely

Most people who are 'colour blind' can in fact detect many colours

Yes people with fine colour vision may make mistakes as that’s human nature, but the person that can’t tell red from green/yellow will 100% have a mistake. I don’t care if they could distinguish between different types of infrared, if they can’t tell green/yellow/red apart then I’m not getting on there train even if you payed me

 

[PupCuff]

I'd encourage the OP not to be disheartened if they can't pursue their chosen role on the railway - there's plenty of jobs on the railway which don't need correct colour vision. Although you might not be able to be a shunter, there may perhaps be other work on depot that you can do. Station work often doesn't require correct colour vision, so long as you aren't dispatching trains. Onboard catering roles or revenue protection could be options too. Most management grade staff don't require correct colour vision either so even just looking at things which are to do with the operations side of the railway there's everything from train planning to fleet & engineering management to health & safety to even managing the traincrews, at least at some TOCs (though many will require the latter to be trained up the same as the staff they're managing).