HSE INVITES RAIL INDUSTRY TO TAKE PART IN EVALUATION OF SAFETY CRITICAL WORK REGULATIONS

HSE press release E002:03 - 8 January 2003

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is inviting the rail industry to take part in an evaluation of the Railways (Safety Critical Work) Regulations 1994 (RSCWR) to ensure the RSCWR are effective.

HSE has appointed independent consultants, the Business Strategy Group (BSG), to carry out this evaluation. The results, which are expected in March, will then be fed into a wider five-yearly review of the RSCWR being carried out by HSE. The review will also be used to help implement recommendations made by Lord Cullen in his Part 2 report on the Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry.

Key stakeholders such as Network Rail, train operating companies and contractors have been approached and asked to take part in face-to-face interviews or to complete postal questionnaires. HSE is particularly keen to receive industry feedback on RSCWR regulations 3 and 4 (which cover competence and fitness and hours of work respectively). Interviews are in-depth with a different set of questions for senior management, managers and supervisors and safety critical workers. The questionnaires are shorter and more general in content, and are aimed at safety critical workers.

HSE has also set up a Safety Critical Stakeholder Working Group (SCSWG) with members from train operating companies, trade unions, infrastructure controllers, maintenance contractors and Railway Safety. The SCSWG was established for the review and is tasked with ensuring external stakeholders views are represented throughout the review. Results from the evaluation will be presented to the SCSWG and incorporated into the wider review of the RSCWR. Results from the review will be made public when complete.

BSG has selected a random cross section of key stakeholders and employees from the rail industry to take part in this evaluation based on their own contacts in this area and information supplied by HSE. However, HSE is keen to provide an opportunity for those not selected to also have an input into the evaluation.

Notes to editors

1. The Railways (Safety Critical Work) Regulations (RSCWR) have been in force since 1994. They place duties on employers in the railway industry to ensure that employees carrying out work which is critical to the safe operation of the railway are competent and fit to carry out their work. There is also a duty to prevent long hours of work which may cause fatigue and, as a result, endanger safety. The five-year review, which began in 1999, was suspended during the Ladbroke Grove and Hatfield incidents due to HSE resources being directed towards these incidents and the need to address wider safety issues.

2. HSE is undertaking a full review of the RSCWR. The rail industry evaluation is being carried out by the Business Strategy Group (BSG) on behalf of HSE and looks at all the regulations, but particularly regulation 3 ('Competence and fitness') and regulation 4 ('Hours of work'). BSG is based in Solihull and were chosen by HSE because of its ability to meet the specification and scope of the review. Results will be reported to the Safety Critical Stakeholder Working Group who will ensure external stakeholder views are represented and feed them into the wider review.

3. The review will also be used as part of work to implement recommendations made by Lord Cullen in his Part 2 report on the Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry. They are: recommendation 24, the accreditation of companies which supply safety critical products and services; recommendation 25, systems for the licensing and central recording of qualified train drivers; and recommendation 26, systems for the licensing and central recording of signal operators.

4. The evaluation is currently taking place and BSG is due to report its findings to HSE by March 2003. It is currently planned that any changes to the RSCWR will be made by the end of December 2004.

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