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How safe is safe enough?

Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) today launched its latest publication - ‘How safe is safe enough?’ – which tackles some of the longstanding challenges the rail industry faces in making consistently safe decisions, every day. It brings together a single overview of good practice in making decisions which affect safety.

Senior rail managers attended a workshop last week to debate the issues surrounding the balance to be struck between cost, performance and safety and how these can be built into sound decisions by everyone, from front line staff to senior executives, in order to safely optimise business performance.

The report provides a framework for rail managers and employees to use, to ensure that decisions that affect safety are:

• Taken and recorded – safety decisions should not happen by default
  
• Taken at the right level – responsibility should be devolved to those with the experience and authority
  
• Taken for the right reason – it is acceptable to do nothing – if nothing is the proper conclusion

The framework also highlights the importance of professional judgement in finding a course of action which reduces risk to as low as reasonably practical.

Aidan Nelson, RSSB director policy and strategic initiatives, said: ‘How safe is safe enough is a springboard to consistently good decision making about safety as an integral component of an effective railway. This work and the response to it will enable the railway to consolidate safety improvements achieved in recent years and better address the challenges we face in delivering the rightly expected safe and reliable railway more cost effectively.’

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. Work is ongoing to develop more supporting material for decision-takers, particularly on the subject of engaging stakeholders in decisions.

2. The document is a step forward for consistent, legal, ethical and workable decisions across the industry.