Use case: Quantifying how service delays affect staff and passenger safety
20/05/2025
Train service delays can contribute to an increased risk of safety incidents, reveals our research. Crowded stations and unexpected changes to departure times and platforms can lead to slips, trips, and falls, and accidents at the platform-train interface. Passenger frustration can increase the risk of assaults on staff. Heightened pressure and the potential for confusion can cause train drivers to unintentionally pass red signals.
How is Safe Insights data being used?
We used Safe Insights data to quantify the effect delays and disruptions have on different safety risks.
What difference is the data making?
- Our work has provided a data-driven evidence base that can:
- inform response plans for adverse events that cause delays, such as equipment failure or extreme weather
- support decision-making to ensure risk from all hazards is as low as is reasonably practicable
- support business cases by providing evidence to justify decisions and quantify the potential impact of proposed initiatives
- inform government policy by providing evidence for decision-making.
‘I believe that every operator should read and understand this research. This research provides clear outcomes that can help the industry take a more proportionate response in adverse conditions. It provides a factual evidence-base to quantify the safety risks that delays can import. It will help us take balanced risk decisions that consider the different ways our actions can affect safety.’
