Talks to Watch

Pointing and Calling Japanese Safety Standard at Railway Companies & Toyota (HD)

627K views · Jan 5, 2014 · 3:56 · 1 HN recommender · 4 mentions · discussed 2018–2022

A short documentary clip of Japanese railway workers and Toyota staff using pointing-and-calling, a safety practice of physically pointing at and naming things while working. It includes examples from several railway companies.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN finds it fascinating and suggests the technique for keeping operators like test drivers attentive.

“(quite fascinating to watch)”HN comment, 2018

What Hacker News said 4

RecommendstgaJun 2018

“(quite fascinating to watch)”

Demonstrates pointing-and-calling as a way to keep drivers engaged

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Contrary to many here, I feel that it's perfectly reasonable to have a backup human driver if they are trained to act accordingly . The Japanese pointing-and-calling technique comes to mind as a good example of keeping drivers engaged: they would have to continuously, actively point at dangers and at the car's appropriate response. this video (quite fascinating to watch) Combine this with short sessions (not driving around for hours with nothing to do), and I think the driver would have had a reasonable chance of preventing this accident.

in “Arizona Uber crash driver was 'watching TV'” · view on HN
Cites itg09980Apr 2018

“perhaps these distracted test drivers could use a similar approach”

Shows Japanese rail pointing-and-calling technique for keeping operators attentive

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In Japanese rail, conductors and drivers periodically point with their hand [1][2] to indicate awareness of the task. Reading the article, perhaps these distracted test drivers could use a similar approach. [1] link [2] this video

in “Former Uber Backup Driver: 'We Saw This Coming'” · view on HN
Cites ityregApr 2022

“I was mesmerised how the Japanese train operators”

Shows Japanese operators physically pointing at everything they do

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I was mesmerised how the Japanese train operators (and perhaps other similar workers) have to follow checklists where they physically point[0] at everything they are doing even when they are alone. Now I'm wondering whether this approach actually works. [0] - this video

JokezeristorApr 2019

“not a good idea to point whilst wielding a scalpel”

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Perhaps they could pick up the Japanese train drivers pointing and calling: this video Referring to things in multiple ways is supposed to have a more thorough confirmation, although not a good idea to point whilst wielding a scalpel.

in “Post-surgical deaths in Scotland drop by a third, attributed to a checklist” · view on HN