E098:05 19 July 2005
The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE), Director of Rail Safety, Dr Allan Sefton, announced this morning that the overall picture of safety performance on Britain's railways remains one of steady and positive progress.
Railway Safety 2004, available on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/railways/statistics.htm, is the last planned report on the safety record of Britain's railways to be published by HSE. The report provides statistics on key performance indicators reflecting the rail safety performance in the UK and covers the period 1 April 2004 to 31 December 2004 due to a requirement to align with the rest of Europe and report on one calendar year.
Headline figures from the report include:
Commenting on the launch of the report Dr Sefton said:
"Overall the picture remains one of steady and positive progress, particularly on the mainline.
"The decision by Network Rail to bring maintenance 'in-house' is without a doubt an opportunity to improve track risk management and we are already seeing some positive results of this change in policy. A fresh approach and focus on the management of risk and real changes to the culture of risk management in the boardrooms of Network Rail and train operating companies should be recognised and encouraged.
"Despite this there remain issues of real concern. After the year 2003/04 in which there were no train incidents involving multiple injuries and fatalities, the derailment at Ufton Nervet level crossing after a Great Western train struck a road vehicle left seven people fatally injured, including the driver of the train. Our deepest sympathies go to the bereaved. HMRI has worked hard to meet their concerns since the incident.
"The incident reminds us it is folly to concentrate on engineering and technical fixes at the expense of efforts to understand and influence human behaviour. The trick is to concentrate on both and their impact on risk reduction.
"Vandalism still accounts for about half of all reportable incidents. The risk of signals passed at danger (SPADS) has continued to fall, though the fall has now slowed and we are fast reaching the point where further reductions will mostly be dependent on tackling human factors.
"Similarly, engineering solutions for real risk reductions in level crossing use can only go so far. Human behaviour and the intrinsic hazards of road/rail junctions with increasing traffic pressures in both modes contribute to level crossings still holding the greatest potential for catastrophic risk on the railways. Evidence shows that the behaviour of the workforce and mistakes they make is a root cause of many incidents. We need to ask why not just blame human error. HMRI is working closely with the industry to tackle this."
Dr Sefton concluded:
" This will be my last report on rail safety. I expect to be handing over to my successor before the end of this calendar year. It is also the last report for HMRI whilst under the governance of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and HSE. HMRI and HSE's Rail Policy Division will be merging with the Office of Rail Regulation around the end of 2005. We are working hard with ORR to ensure that all goes smoothly."
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 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. It is anticipated that the next report will be produced under ORR. Both the format and content is something HSE will be discussing with ORR over the coming months.
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. Last year HSE announced that HMRI now targets its resources on aiding the industry's management of the risks of high consequence accidents and also monitors HMRI's own performance by direct use of the mainline Railway Group's own risk model and annual target for reducing catastrophic 'train accident precursors. The model indicates that a 21% improvement has been achieved since March 2002.
4. 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 at http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2004/c04032.htm. The SoS decided that the responsibility for rail safety regulation should be transferred from HSE to join ORR. The planned date for the merger is at the end of 2005 and HSE is working hard with ORR to ensure that all goes smoothly.
5. HSE's report on railway safety covers the period 1 April 2004 to 31 December 2004. This brings 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.
All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office
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