HSC - Railway Industry Advisory Committee (RIAC)

The Health and Safety Commission’s Railway Industry Advisory Committee (RIAC), which was established in 1978, plays an important role in providing a strategic forum for railway industry stakeholders.

It provides advice to the HSC on railway safety, exchanges information, comments on proposed new regulations and guidance and works to progress health and safety issues and other related developments within the industry.

RIAC meets three or four times a year and holds one open public meeting each year.

• Details of RIAC main committee agendas and minutes can be found below

RIAC representation

RIAC has wide representation and includes all stakeholders from the rail industry. There are seven employers’ representatives, seven employee representatives and three public interest members on the Committee

Until October 2001, the Chair of RIAC had always been the HSE Chief Inspector of Railways. Following the publication of Lord Cullen’s public inquiry report, and HSE’s review of RIAC, the HSC appointed an independent Chair, Margaret Burns CBE.

RIAC’s Working Groups

RIAC currently has four functioning working groups which contribute to guidance on best practice, research, exchange and dissemination of information and the development of proposed legislation. These groups are the:

• Occupational Health Working Group
  – which has a remit to produce a strategy, linked to the HSC’s Securing Health Together Programme, to improve occupational health in the rail industry;
• Human Factors Working Group
  – this group facilitates the identification, evaluation, communication and promotion of good practice in relation to human factors, for example work force behaviour and management culture.
• Freight Working Group
  – advises and provides guidance to RIAC on improving health and safety in the rail freight industry and the protection of people at work and society from particular hazards arising from the operation of freight trains.
• Worker Involvement Working Group
  - this group was set up to enhance the effectiveness of worker involvement on health and safety in the railway industry and is looking at best practice and how this can be shared.

• The HSC's RIAC programme of work for 2002/03 and beyond [27kb]

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