St Pancras Station Travel Centre
Eurostar
BACKGROUND
Eurostar operations moved from Waterloo to the modernised St Pancras International in November 2007. All on-site ticket sales and travel enquires are dealt with at the Travel Centre. In 2007, over 8 million passengers used Eurostar services.
PROJECT
Eurostar commissioned us to undertake a review of desk designs within their Travel Centre and Ticket Centre following reports from the staff of problems with the original design and usability. The aim of the work was to support Eurostar to operate desks that were safe, comfortable and easy to use for both staff and customers.
IMPLEMENTATION
We undertook observation studies of customer and staff behaviours using the desks and interviewed staff to establish good and bad design issues. We undertook task analysis to understand sequences of equipment use and communication interactions. We then modelled the desks on the SAMMIE CAD system to assess the suitability of desks to support safe working postures. We were also responsible for checking compliance with ergonomics standards, guidance and best practice.
OUTCOMES
CCD established cost beneficial recommendations to improve usability of desks for staff and customers. Recommendations covered improvements in physical desk design, equipment layout and seating as well as in softer issues such as staff/customer communication, staff security, job design and queuing systems.
An important aspect of the CCD work was to support Eurostar's ongoing health & safety risk assessment programme. CCD recommendations fed directly into a risk reduction programme.