HSE Publishes Annual Report on Railway Safety 2003/2004

HSE Press Release: E132-04 - 21 September 2004

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today published its annual report on the safety record of Britain's railways during the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004.

Headline figures from the report include:

• no passenger fatalities in train incidents;
• 9 staff fatalities, including 6 track workers;
• 12 passenger, and 18 other member of the public fatalities;
• 378 signals passed at danger (SPADs); down 23 on last year, with serious SPADs up marginally from 143 to 147;
• broken rails on the Network Rail infrastructure fell by 25% to 334;
• 137 track buckles on the Network Rail infrastructure, up 116 on last year;
• 610 train incidents caused by vandalism, down 18% on last year but still accounting for 48% of all train incidents; and
• 18 people killed on level crossings: 1 train driver, 9 pedestrians and 8 car occupants. 28 incidents on level crossings, up 1 on last year.

Dr Allan Sefton, HSE's Director of Rail Safety commented:

"My report on rail safety for the year ending 31 March 2004 is a positive one. Once again, HSE's HM Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) has noted improvements in key safety indicators and the year passed without a train incident causing a passenger fatality. However, it is with sadness that I report that 9 railway employees lost their lives, 3 more than last year, with 4 men killed at Tebay, Cumbria in February 2004. I am also concerned at the number and nature of the deaths and incidents at level crossings during the year."

"The completion in December 2003 of the programme to install train protection and warning system (TPWS) was a real achievement by the rail industry. TPWS is proving to be increasingly successful in reducing the consequence of signals passed at danger and we are supporting work by the industry on evaluating the effectiveness of TPWS for overspeed mitigation."

"I regard the increasing co-operation between HMRI and all key industry players to achieve the common goals of a safe and reliable railway as another positive feature of the year. In practical terms, HMRI and the industry are focusing on those risks that could lead to a catastrophic event such as a collision or derailment. This is underscored by our continuing work to deliver key changes to the way HMRI is organised, and improve how it plans, prioritises and communicates its work."

Allan Sefton concluded:

"We are still absorbing the outcomes of the Government's White Paper 'The Future of Rail' that announced that rail health and safety and economic regulation will be merged in a single body. I am pleased that the White Paper acknowledged the good work that HSE has carried out as the independent rail health and safety regulator. There is much to be done in the transition period, but HMRI is committed to ensuring that this does not in any way deflect from our efforts to ensure better management of risks on the railway."

'HSE's annual report on railway safety 2003/04' is available free on the HSE website.

Notes to editors

1. The Railway Inspectorate - which became HM Railway Inspectorate in 1990 (HMRI) on its transfer to HSE - has published Annual Reports on railway safety for over 150 years. Since October 1986, these have been produced under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Secretaries of State for the Environment and Transport. This requires HSE's HMRI to make an annual report to HSC and the Transport Secretary. The report covers all railways in Great Britain, including Network Rail infrastructure, London Underground, Tyne and Wear Metro, Docklands Light Railway, minor railways and tram systems etc.

2. The report is principally a source of statistical data derived from the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), including information on key findings and trends. It also provides a mechanism for disseminating information about the work of HMRI and an opportunity to cascade messages on emerging issues and findings from investigations, which would not necessarily justify separate publication.

3. This year's report, like last year's, is published on the HSE rail-web page, which was relaunched in February 2003 as the prime source of information on HMRI's investigations and other live issues. The web-based report is structured around statistical data (i.e. fatalities, injuries, train incidents, train defects and enforcement) and includes a foreword by Allan Sefton, HSE's Director of Rail Safety, and a year in brief section.

4. Last year HSE announced that HMRI would link its own performance monitoring directly to the mainline Railway Group's own risk model and annual target for reducing catastrophic 'train accident precursors'. The target is to reduce by 10% each year (using 2001/2002 as a benchmark) the incidence of train accident precursors, calculated on risk basis, that could lead to a catastrophic event. HSE's Rail Delivery Programme is a two-year project, begun in 2003/2004 to deliver business, quality and regulatory improvements in line with the agenda set by recent rail public inquiries (Lord Cullen's report on Ladbroke Grove in particular) and the HSE strategy for rail. Significant progress has already been made and other planned changes are on time and within the budget given to HSE to fund this work.

5. On 15 July 2004 the Secretary of State for Transport (SoS) published a White Paper The Future of Rail with outcomes from the Rail Review that he announced in January 2004. HSC published its response to the White Paper on the same day - see press release C032-04. The SoS decided that the responsibility for rail safety regulation should be transferred from HSE to join the new Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). A date for the merger has not been proposed but since primary legislation is required there will be a transitional period in which the statutory responsibilities for health and safety on the railways remain with HSE.

6. HSE's next report on railway safety will cover the period 1 April 2004 to 31 December 2004. This will bring our reporting in line with EU requirements, and to match the Rail Safety and Standards Board which publishes its performance reports on a calendar year basis. No date has been set for publication of the HSE report.

7. Key facts from HSE Rail Safety Annual Report 2003/2004

HMRI

HMRI permanent staff remained steady at 190.

Incident investigations, enforcement, prosecutions, complaint

• One major incident at Tebay on 15 February 2004 in which four track workers were killed and three were injured.
• 56 enforcement notices issued, 46 fewer than in 2002/03.
• 23 prosecutions undertaken which resulted in fines of £552,750. This compares with 11 prosecutions resulting in of fines of £183, 500 in 2002/3.

Train incidents

• 39 people (excluding trespassers and suicides) were fatally injured on the railway infrastructure, down 11 (20%) on previous year.
• 1259 train incidents occurred, down 162 (11%) on 2002/03.
• 59 collisions, down 10 (15%) from last year.
• 62 derailments, down 5 (8%) from 2002/3.
• 63 significant train incidents on all railways, down 12 (16%) on last year; these included the 40 significant train accidents on Network Rail's controlled infrastructure, down 7 (15%) on 2002/3; both the lowest on record.
• 393 train windscreens damaged (mostly caused by bricks and stones thrown by vandals), down 105 (21%) from 498.

Track

• 334 broken rails on Network Rail's Controlled Infrastructure (NRCI), down 110 (25%) from 445 in 2002/3.
• 137 track buckles on all railways (resulting in two derailments), up 116 (480%) on 2002/03.
• 33 broken rails on LUL infrastructure up 4 (17%) from 2002/3.

Safety of railway employees

• 6 track worker fatalities.
• 3 other employees; bringing a total of 9.
• 263 injuries arising from assaults on staff, down 72 (21%) from 335 in 2002/03.

Incidents involving passengers, staff & members of the public

• 39 people (excluding trespassers and suicides) were fatally injured on the railways, down 10 (20%) on previous year.
• 12 passenger fatalities from all causes, down 11 (down 48%) on last year.
• There were no train incident passenger fatalities.
• 9 railway staff fatalities, up 3 (50%) from 2002/03.
• 18 deaths of other members of the public, down 2 (12%) on last year.
• Of these 18 deaths, 17 were to level-crossing users, up 4 (31%) on the previous year.

Train protection/SPADs

• 378 SPADs on Network Rail's controlled infrastructure, down 23 (5%) from 2002/03.
• 147 serious SPADs on NRCI, up 4 (3%) from 2002/03.
• Since 1998/99 both the overall number of and serious SPADs on Network Rail Controlled Infrastructure (NRCI) has reduced by about 39% and 40% respectively.
• The successful completion of the train protection and warning system (TPWS) programme at the end of 2003. TPWS has already reduced the signal passed at danger risk. There have been several incidents where TPWS has effectively activated and intervened in situations where there was potential for collisions.

Level crossings

• 28 train incidents at level crossings - up 1 (7%) on 2002/03.
• 17 members of the public were killed using level crossings, up 4 on 2002/03, although some of the incidents are still awaiting Coroners' reports.
• 1 railway employee was killed, the first such occurrence for many years.
• Of the 17, 8 were occupants of road vehicles killed in incidents when their vehicles were in collision with trains.
• 9 were pedestrians struck and killed while using the crossings, down 2 on 2002/3.
• Currently there are 7,937 level crossings on Network Rail's controlled infrastructure.

Trespass and vandalism

• 246 members of the public fatally injured due to trespass and suicide, down 11 (4%) on 2002/03.
• 5 children under the age of 16 died while trespassing, the same as 2002/03.
• The overall number of train accidents due to vandalism fell by 18% in 2002/3 to 610 incidents this year. This continues the downward trend of the last seven years; much good work done by the National Route Crime Group.
• Route crime accounts for 48% of all train incidents, ie. 610 of the 1259 train incidents in 2003/4. (Route crime accounted for 52% of all train incidents in 2001/2).
• Malicious vandalism acts included:
  • 21 collisions caused by vandalism (many of these are as a result of collisions involving slam-door rolling stock).
  • 159 train fires caused by arson, down 3.
  • 108 of trains running into obstructions of the line.
  • 318 incidents of missiles (stones thrown) damage to trains.

Fires

• 297 train fires, up 5 (2%) on 2002/03.
• 159 of these were due to arson, down 3 (2%) on 2002/3;
• 278 fires on passenger trains, the same as last year; and 19 fires on goods trains, up 5 from 14 in 2002/3;
• 119 lineside and station fires, up 34 (40%) on last year.

London Underground

• The first full year of LUL's public-private partnership (PPP), started in July 2003.
• 2 significant derailments at Hammersmith on 17 October 2003 and Camden Town on 19 October 2003.
• 33 broken rails on LUL's infrastructure, up 5 (17%) compared with 29 in 2002/03.
• 22 people fatally injured on LUL, down 5 (19%) on the 27 in 2002/3.

Press enquiries

All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office