Reducing trespass and saving £3m using a common risk assessment framework
Existing methods of assessing and managing trespass risk are disparate and inconsistent across the rail industry.
However, 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, but the lack of a consistent approach across industry had prevented this.
The extent and form of risk assessment should be proportionate to the risk and use of a suitable and sufficient form of risk assessment. Therefore a new project was established to address these issues.
We developed and launched a new rail industry standard that provides a common framework for trespass risk assessments.
This was developed from the outputs of RSSB research project T1183 Good practice guide to assessing trespass risk.
That guide aims to improve the effectiveness of trespass prevention activities on the network, and in turn reduce the number of trespass incidents.
The new standard sets out requirements and guidance for conducting, implementing, and reviewing trespass risk assessments. This will help transport operators manage risk, mitigate hazards, and improve railway safety and performance relating to trespass.
The new good practice guide and rail industry standard supports a consistent risk assessment process that is applicable across industry, with detailed guidance on relevant areas. It also facilitates understanding of when risk has been reduced to be ‘as low as is reasonably practicable’.
A decrease in trespass incidents will support both a reduction in associated harm from incidents and the likelihood of operators incurring fines and court costs. A reduction will also positively impact associated delay minutes. The overall financial benefit of this change to industry is expected to be around £3m over five years.