Safety

The significant trends in safety risk from 2022-2023, and what's being done to keep our railway one of the safest in the world.

As RSSB celebrates its 20th year, this episode looks at the work that it has done to help improve safety at level crossing, one of the biggest sources of risk for the railway.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch does what it says on the tin. It looks at both accidents and incidents to find their underlying causes. No blame is laid, but recommendations for mitigations are made; some of which may be around organisational culture.

Because rail is strongly safety focused, speed restrictions were applied when earthworks failed following extreme weather events. However, speed restrictions can increase safety risk elsewhere. The Whole System Risk Model helps rail’s response to be proportionate.

Embedding Safety Culture means change. Ellie Burrows explains what safety culture means to her, and talks about what leaders need to do to deliver the fair culture that supports it.

At LNER they’re taking the BowTie Method beyond operational risk analysis, to create a novel corporate risk register.

This episode, first published in the At the Front Line stream, looks at the work of the Network Rail Safety Task Force to reduce open line working and the risks associated with it.

This podcast looks at how the G-FORCE Tool has been used by GWR in the Control Centre, examples of incidents when it has been used, and the benefits it can bring.

This podcast looks at the BowTie Method of risk analysis - why and when to use it, and how it can help broaden understanding of risk, hazards, and mitigations in a visual way.

Trevor Parkin of East Midlands Railway and Chris Harrison of RSSB talk about what the rail industry is doing to reduce the number of signals passed at danger, and so the likelihood of a potentially fatal train accident.