Using corporate memory now and in the future
The Rail Safety and Standards Board, and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, were formed, in part, to identify and record learning opportunities. Our repository of corporate memory should help especially during times of transition.
Unfortunately, it’s in periods of transition that we can forget some of the vital lessons from past events. The fatal derailment in 1988 at Clapham Junction happened when a major signalling upgrade was at the same time as a major organisational change. As we go through the period of change that will lead to the creation of Great British Railways, we must not lose sight of the many lessons we have learned from the past. An identical point was made by RAIB’s chief inspector, after a wrong routing incident in Cardiff in 2016. That also followed an infrastructure upgrade.
Our industry has many ‘lifers’, people who’ve been with us a long time who have a lot of tacit knowledge. Knowledge that’s all stored in their memories. It may be corporate memory now, but when they leave, it’s potentially lost forever. So, just how we can help retain that knowledge for the future?
As the industry changes, we have opportunities to change as well. We can reassess our views, look at the big picture and the whole system. We can bring together a new safety culture that uses historical knowledge and future opportunities. RSSB’s research programme and its Futures Lab will be part of that change, looking forward. You can find out more, including six ways to help preserve existing knowledge as corporate memory, in the April 2023 issue of ‘Spotlight on Safety: Corporate Memory—a resource for proactive risk management’.