Transport Business

Rail in Great Britain is generally recognised as safe, indeed one of the safest forms of public transport, at a similar to air and coach travel and more than 20 times safer than travel by car. However, although the railway has become safer and major accidents have reduced, there is never room for complacency as risk can never be completely eliminated.
    
Network Rail – which manages the railway infrastructure – and the respective train operating companies (TOCs) – which run the trains – can take huge credit for growth and safety improvements, as their considerable investments and day-to-day attention to detail and service is core to these achievements – ultimately. Like any other modern-day industry, individual companies are responsible for ensuring that there is the right level of safety in place.  
    
Whilst the industry comprises many diverse organisations, it also needs to work together to deliver service to the customer and improve business performance. Some of the ways it does this are through making collective decisions on standards and system cooperation, addressing operational issues at the interface and developing joint industry strategies. RSSB is the place where the industry comes together to do many of these things.  

Indeed, RSSB has supported and facilitated improvements across the whole range of industry performance – through research, standards, safety plans, analysis of risk and much more. RSSB’s core purpose is to work with the industry (its members and owners) to deliver continuously improving safety, reductions in costs and improvement in performance.

A source of safety intelligence
To manage and improve safety you first need to measure it. An important component of RSSB’s service is the management and provision of the industry’s Safety Management Information System (SMIS). The national web-based IT system is used by the rail industry to record all safety related events that occur on the mainline network. The industry’s own standard mandates its use so that all data is accessible across the industry to analyse risk, predict trends and focus activities on significant areas of safety concern.
    
RSSB publishes regular reports collating and summarising the statistics reflecting key risk areas. These are published in the detailed Annual Safety Performance Report (ASPR), which is delivered each spring for the previous calendar year, as well as monthly, quarterly and half-year reports.
    
The 2008 ASPR was published in April 2009 – and shows safety performance has continued to get better. Key points are:

• There were no passenger or workforce fatalities in train accidents in 2008. This is the third year in the last four with no fatalities.
• In 2008, 70 accidental fatalities, 422 major injuries and 12,308 minor injuries (including shock and trauma) were recorded. The total level of harm in 2008 was 132 Fatalities and Weighted Injuries (FWI). This is two per cent higher than 2007.
• Five passengers died in separate incidents – all at stations. This is the lowest passenger fatality total recorded. The fatality rate per passenger journey is also at a historically low level.
• There were 47 potentially higher-risk train accidents (PHRTAs). This is the same as the 2007 total and similar to the average for the previous three years.
• There were small increases in both the number of signals passed at danger (SPADs) and the predicted level of risk from SPADs during 2008. However, the underlying level of risk remains historically low at around 15 per cent of its March 2001 level, compared to 13 per cent at the end of 2007.
• Three members of the workforce died in accidents during 2008: two track workers and one other member of staff. This compares with two workforce fatalities in both 2007 and 2006.
• Twelve pedestrians died at level crossings in 2008, compared with nine in 2007. This is the highest number of pedestrian fatalities since 1997 (when there were also twelve).
• There were two accidental fatalities involving road vehicle occupants at level crossings. This is comparable with levels seen over the previous three years.
• Fatalities from suicide (209) and trespass (47) totalled 256. This is similar to the average for the previous three years.
  

• In order to meet legal requirements, or
• Because they are sensible from a commercial perspective
  

• Societal concern about risk impacts on government decision making. The document states that societal concern should not be taken into account by duty holders when deciding whether a measure is necessary to ensure safety so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP). However, the impact of societal concern on a company’s reputation might mean that the company takes account of it for business reasons.
• A judgement about whether a measure is required to ensure safety so far as is reasonably practicable might be supported in some circumstances by a CBA. New guidance about how to construct a CBA for this purpose is included. 
• This document clarifies that application of the Tolerability of Risk (TOR) framework (published by the HSE in Reducing Risks, Protecting People) is not a requirement of the Heath and Safety at Work Act etc 1974. The TOR framework is a conceptual guide for regulators that may help duty holders manage and prioritise safety activity by providing an alternative perspective on risk.