Re: Network Rail Miles Better Than Railtrack?


RBCatlow@xxxxxxx wrote:
The
industry is defined as being a safety critical one and is subject to
the "Safety Case Regulations" the only other industries so regulated
are the nuclear and offshore petrochemical industry.


Two questions about this. Why was it done? Has it made things safer?

In my view it was done because it was the only way the RI could see
of coping with privatisation. They could deal with Railtrack and
Railtrack could deal with the 101 fragment companies.

I understand that it was at the insistence of the government on the
advice of the HSE (not just the HMRI element) who viewed the railways
as an inherently dangerous industry. I diagree with that sentiment.

I'm not sure it has made things safer either. Safety has been
improved for a very long time and I don't see that the safety case
process has made much of a difference, either way, to the trends. It
may be that the railways have to run faster just to keep still, the
highest energy train crash in the world at Ladbroke Grove was
followed by an even higher one at Great Heck and even greater
energies will be a feature of some crashes as speeds rise.

It's main aim has been to ensure that everything was subject to proper
review and vetting, competencies of the industry properly managed,
record keeping maintained accurately and so on. In many ways it
formalised what went on within BR, which didn't have such a stringent
attitude on these matters which was exposed on several occasions such
as the Clapham accident and its underlying causes. At least it means
that the requirements are clearly laid out and it is a legal
requirement to do so and to maintain the process. I agree with you that
the need for it was enhanced by privitisation process and the
consequent fragmentation. You could just imagine the outcry, ambulance
chasing lawyers of the Louise Christian variety and so on if it wasn't
introduced. As a senior engineer with a very high degree of personal
responsibility for the work I do and the potential consequences of
getting it wrong (i.e. killing a lot of people whether staff or
passengers), I feel it is essential for a properly documented and
enforced safety case process to be in place, obeyed and maintained just
in case the worst happens. It provides a degree of air cover if the
worst were to happen.

I believe that it has made things safer (not those necessarily which
outsiders can see), but of course there has been a singificant workload
and administration attached to it which adds to cost. Remember this all
started in 92 under BR and would have continued whether BR had been
privitised or not.

When I started, there was no track safety course, a year afterwards the
PTS was introduced and the competency requirements for everyone who
works on or about the railway have steadily risen, taking more time and
money in the process, to improve safety. This was quite rightly done to
reduce injury and fatalities amongst the workforce.

While injuries and fatalities were reduced at first this could be
seen as a continuation of the trends of the previous 100 years.
Since then injuries and fatalities have gone up, which probably is
simply a reflection of more work being done. ISTR Railtrack started
to be worried as the figures went up.

It is highly regrettible that the recent upward trend in fatalities has
occurred despite an ever increasing programme of training and refresher
training - mainly amongst non NR staff, contractors in particular and
this year a Driver from a FOC. It just goes to show that you can't take
your eyes off the ball for even a moment.

I recently observed a contractors team installing lineside troughing
with inadequate protective equipment for the disc cutting and power
tools they were using. I intervened, found no method statement,
inadequate lookout protection, staff wearing no safety goggles nor ear
defenders ( a must for disc cutting) and one guy wearing ordinary
trainers. I threw them off the site, detained them until the arrival of
heir manager and our accident investigator / safety advisor for them to
carry out a full investigation of such shoddy practice. The Manager of
said company was abusive to me and very bulshy about his job being
stopped. I countered this by stating that I am empowered to stop an
unsafe job (as is any other member of NR staff) and would only be too
glad to hand over the investigation to the HMRI unless he started to
co-operate and if he continued to threaten me, then the BTP would turn
up pronto. Three days later this company was stopped from working for
NR for ever as a result of their shambolic safety standards, bulshy
management and failure to comply with the rules. There is no room for
this sort of organisation to work in the railway industry and NR have
no compunctions in getting shot of them if they transgress.



Excellent post.

.

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