Community Safety
Community Safety Introduction
The Rail Safety and Standards Board National Programmes, Railway Operations
team exists to help the industry to pursue improvements in major risk
areas. One of these areas is Community Safety.
In the railway industry, community safety refers to a package
of issues associated with crime and misbehaviour by the public and the
initiatives put in place to manage and reduce the impact on safety, performance
and cost. These issues include:
- Trespass – along the line of route and at stations
- Vandalism inc. graffiti - along the line of route, at stations and
on trains (inside and outside)
- Crimes against people and physical railway company assets such as
cable theft
- Suicide
- Assaults against the person – staff, customers and the public
- Misuse of level crossings by the public
- Anti-social behaviour, including fare evasion
The initiatives include the use of complementary policing schemes and
adopt a station schemes.
The purpose of community safety is to maintain and build public
confidence in personal safety and security while people travel on trains
or use railway facilities.
It excludes:
- Counter terrorism security
- Management of the assets at level crossings
- Management of major incidents
The team structures its work under the framework of the five Es:
Enabling – The provision of resources through
people, procedures and systems to allow the other 4Es to be effective.
Education – providing appropriate materials
for target audiences and ensuring that these are delivered in a consistent
manner
Engineering – Physical equipment and protection,
together with research into innovative means of increasing safety on
the railway
Enforcement – The use of laws to prosecute those
who endanger themselves or others on the railway
Evaluation – Set ting a baseline before embarking
on initiatives so that the before and after can be properly compared,
to understand what works well and what does not.
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