Health and Safety Commission publishes recommendations by the Hatfield Investigation Board

HSE Press Release C036:02 - 22 August 2002

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has today published recommendations prepared by the independent Investigation Board established following the Hatfield derailment. Four people were killed and 70 injured in the derailment on 17 October 2000.

The immediate cause of the derailment was the fracture and subsequent fragmentation of the track at Hatfield. The recommendations derive from the investigation into why this happened, and focus on improving the management of health and safety and maintenance, track design and inspection, and rolling stock and infrastructure design.

While the Investigation Board will not be able to produce a final report into the derailment until any legal proceedings are concluded, it is keen to put its recommendations into the public domain in the interests of openness. The Board has also forwarded a dossier of papers to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Commission, said:

"I am pleased that it is now possible to make these recommendations public. While the Board has passed relevant safety critical information to both the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the rail industry's own inquiry board, I believe that it is important that the public sees its work to date."

"The Board notes that action already taken by the industry, including that to implement recommendations made by Lord Cullen in his Inquiry Reports, will have addressed many aspects of its own recommendations. In the light of that, I have asked the industry to endorse the Board's work, to let me know how much work has been done so far to meet the recommendations, and what more needs to be done to fully implement them. I have also sought views on an appropriate timetable for completing this work."

'Hatfield Derailment Investigation: Interim Recommendations of the Investigation Board' is available on the HSE's website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/railway/hatfield/investigationb1.pdf

Notes to editors

1. The derailment of the 12.10 Kings Cross to Leeds passenger express train took place on 17 October 2000 near Hatfield. Four people were killed and 70 injured. The investigation into the cause of the derailment has been undertaken jointly by HSE and the British Transport Police (BTP), with the latter in the lead.

2. The HSC requested that the derailment be investigated under Section 14(2)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The investigation was overseen by a Board, chaired by Sandra Caldwell, head of HSE's Health Directorate and a former member of the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority. The Board included independent members, namely Consulting Engineer Stuart Mustow, CBE, FR Eng, FICE; Richard Profit, OBE, Group Director Safety Regulation, Civil Aviation Authority; and Prof. Ernest Shannon CBE, FR Eng, FIAE, formerly Director of Engineering Research, British Gas. The Board's terms of reference are:

• To ensure the thorough investigation of the Hatfield derailment by HSE and thereby establish its causation, including root causes;
• To identify and transmit to the appropriate recipients any information requiring immediate attention;
• To examine HSE's role in regulating safety on the railways with regard to this incident, both prior to and in the investigation of the incident, within the context of the existing regulatory framework applicable to railway safety, and in securing compliance with regulatory requirements by the infrastructure controller and other duty holders involved;
• To report findings to the Executive and Commission as soon as possible.

3. The Board asked the HSC to publish its interim recommendations, and it has also passed a dossier of papers to the Crown Prosecution Service. The BTP component of the investigation is continuing. The Board will prepare its final report into the derailment when any legal proceedings are concluded. The publication of the recommendations follows two interim reports by HSE into the Hatfield derailment. They are 'Train Derailment at Hatfield, 17 October 2000, First HSE Interim Report' published 20 October 2000, and available on: http://www.hse.gov.uk/railways/hatfield/interim1.htm and 'Train Derailment at Hatfield, 17 October 2000, Second HSE Interim Report', published 23 January 2001 and available on: http://www.hse.gov.uk/railways/hatfield/interim2.htm

4. Lord Cullen made 89 recommendations in Part 1 of his Report (HSE Books, ISBN 0 7176 2056 5) on the Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry and 74 recommendations in his Part 2 Report (HSE Books, ISBN 0 7176 2107 3). The latter Report dealt with the management of safety on the railways, and the regulatory regime.

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