The health and safety of rail: from vision to reality
The Rail Health and Safety Strategy paves the way for a healthier, safer and affordable railway.
Ann MillsDeputy Director System Safety & Health, RSSB
April 2024 sees the launch of the Rail Health and Safety Strategy. Its development was driven by the System Safety Risk Group (SSRG) and the Rail Wellbeing Alliance (RWA), overseen by the Rail Industry Health and Safety Executive Advisory Group (REAG).
Building on previous successful strategies, this document sets out a new five-year Rail Health and Safety Strategy for the industry. It aims to bring greater cohesion and shape the future culture of the industry in a period of change.
It covers five key risks: public behaviour, health and wellbeing, operations, occupational health, and safety and asset management. These are further broken down into the following 10 areas:
trespass and suicide
passenger and staff assaults
level crossings
health and wellbeing
train operations
passenger operations
fatigue
occupational health and safety
asset integrity
freight safety
Trespass and suicide
Passenger and staff assaults
Level crossings
Health and wellbeing
Train operations
Passenger operations
Fatigue
Occupational health and safety
Asset integrity
Freight safety
Each risk area is based on a solid understanding of risk data and safety intelligence. It has drawn on detailed consultation across the industry. The active engagement and insights this brought underpin the strategy.
The result is a set of strategic initiatives set out in roadmaps. In each case, there is a clear intent and a number of proposals to deliver practical outcomes. The areas interlink and it is the implementation of the whole strategy that will shift the health and safety performance and safety culture in the industry. Whatever your input, thank you.
The strategy isn’t only realistic and actionable, it’s also ambitious. Its overall vision is to make GB rail the safest, healthiest, and most affordable railway. That’s quite an ambition, and something we should be proud of. Britain’s rail industry is a vital part of the economy and society. It provides essential transport services for people and goods. It has a strong track record of improving safety and health performance, but there is no room for complacency.
We need to work as an industry to deliver this vision. This means going beyond the call of duty to cooperate and to choose actively to collaborate. In doing so, we can make the most of our resources. The Rail Health and Safety Strategy provides the framework to allow, and encourage, organisations to collaborate. The benefits of doing so are worth spelling out.
The railway is a complex system with many interacting parts. Many problems cannot be solved in isolation by one stakeholder. Better whole-system solutions can be identified when organisations tackle them together.
Addressing problems alone can be costly, so coming together as a collective brings considerable cost savings.
Working together can allow for problem solving that is innovative, increasing the boundaries of what is possible.
Collaborative working can also provide assurance. It is recognised as an enabler to achieving higher levels of maturity, as set out in the Office of Rail and Road’s Rail Management Maturity Model. It allows organisations to learn from each other.
Put simply, better, whole-system solutions can be identified when problems are tackled together.
The Rail Health and Safety Strategy provides the framework to support us to seize opportunities to address key industry risks and to make GB rail the safest, healthiest affordable railway. This is a challenging and exciting prospect. And it’s been created by and for the whole industry. Here’s to the whole industry’s success in achieving it.
Read the Rail Health and Safety Strategy in full. Click on the image below.
