Define and Screen

16/09/2020

Before commencing with risk assessment, it is important to define the ‘system’ and what is being considered.

This could be a specific location, such as a depot or station and an area around the location (e.g. High Wycombe station and up to 100 metres from the platform ends), a distance of trainline (e.g. High Wycombe station to Princes Risborough), or even a whole route such as ‘London Marylebone to Oxford route” and all stations along it.

Legal duty to assess risk

As noted in the Legal Duties section there is a legal duty to assess all significant and/or foreseeable trespass safety risks. It is advised that all railway operations and property are risk assessed. The extent and form of risk assessment should be proportionate to the risk and use a suitable and sufficient form of risk assessment, as outlined in the section on the Level and Form of Risk Analysis

Is risk assessment needed?

The following list provides specific triggers to update an existing risk assessment or conduct a new one:

A fatal or Specified major injury has occurred
Incident data indicates a significant possibility of trespass
A new station, route, depot, siding or running line
A refurbished station, route, depot, siding or running line
Development of trespass prevention strategy
An unusual peak or change in trespass events
Development of action plans for local hotspots
A significant change in the adjacent land use or socio-demographics of surrounding areas
A change in security measures, such as changes in staffing or patrols.
These triggers can also be thought of as:
Problem led. Where incident experience indicates that there may be a high trespass risk, prompting a risk assessment
Solution led. Where the development of a new technology, such as a new type of barrier, leads to an assessment of where it may best be implemented
New developments. Where trespass prevention needs to be considered as part of the construction or refurbishment of an asset
Strategy led. Where a strategy for continued improvement is informed by an assessment of risk and risk controls.

Major injuries

This is defined in RIDDOR 2013 as “Specified injuries”, includes losing consciousness, most fractures, major dislocations and loss of sight (temporary or permanent), burns covering more than 10% of the body and other injuries that resulted in hospital attendance for more than 24 hours.
Risk based safety monitoring

As noted in Taking Safe Decisions, “Risk-based monitoring of safety, described in the common safety method (CSM) for monitoring, enables effective management of safety by identifying areas for safety improvement.” (p7). The occurrence of trespass, the integrity of trespass prevention measures, changes in factors (e.g. building housing adjacent to a railway line) that contribute to trespass should be monitored. As noted in sections on Frequency and Vulnerability, land use, crime rates, deprivation, age profile of local communities, accessibility of property, trespass attractions and security measures are all found to influence the possibility of trespass.

In the event of a significant change or identification of a significant risk, new risk assessment may be required.
Relative frequency of trespass
The need for risk assessment can be informed by the frequency of recorded trespass incidents.

Guidance below categorises the frequency of trespass incidents (excluding level crossings, cable theft and suspected suicide) into Very Low to Very High categories. The guidance is based on the average recorded number of trespass incidents per “nearest station” per year within the NDFU FUSION database. The FUSION database gives a count of trespass incidents per “nearest station”, for example High Wycombe station. This will include incidents at the station and incidents on adjacent running lines up to the mid-point to the next train station.

The guidance below can be used to screen and rank locations for risk assessment. An option is to prioritise higher frequency locations.

If a group of locations are being assessed as a whole, such as a group of 10 stations, then the frequencies below need to pro rata up. For a group of 10 stations, a Very High frequency of trespass would be 10 X 10.5 = 105 or more.

Rating the annual trespass frequency per nearest station

Very high = 10.5 or more per year

High = 6.5 to 10.49 per year

Medium = 3.5 to 6.4 per year

Low = 2 to 3.49 per year

Very low = <2 per year

The Level and Form of Risk Analysis section provides more information on screening a location and deciding which type of risk assessment to use.

Haven’t found what you’re looking for?

Get in touch with our Principal Strategy Implementation Manager for further information.

Gemma Lavery

https://customer-portal.rssb.co.uk