What Price Track Worker Safety in 2006?

January 18th 2006

Safety and Economics
Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) will become an integral part of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) in April this year, operating from a combined headquarters in central London. Their aim is to ‘integrate safety and economic regulation.’ Their chairman, Chris Bolt, said in December last year that their aim was to manage a “seamless transition, followed by changes to integrate economics and safety.” Does that imply that safety is a priority, but has its price?

The ORR sees their task as bringing together safety, reliability and efficiency. But the public perception of rail safety is heavily influenced by our press, which sees rail as a readership-pulling vehicle for near hysterical reporting. As the MORI head of transport research commented recently, transport journalists are as remarkably biased in favour of air travel as they are against rail!

Let’s return to the bad old days
The Railway Strategic Safety Plan for 2006 can be found on the website of the Railway Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). It speaks of “maintaining the level of safety in a constantly changing environment.” Specifically it refers to “reducing the risks to trackside workers” and “developing competency in the workforce.”

Whatever happened to the principle of continuing improvement? Has the changing environment driven the authors to set a lower target of merely trying to ensure that things do not get any worse? In the price ‘they’ are prepared to pay, is the aim to suffer as many track worker fatalities and major injuries this year as in 2005?

I want to see a major reduction, and believe we should aim to return to the ‘bad old days’ of British Rail when the industry enjoyed periods of 15 months and more without a single fatality. Our equipment and training is allegedly better now!

A more cost effective CIRAS claimed
The plan refers to the need for compliance with the European Railway Safety Directive, but this appears only to have adjusted its format. There is a self-congratulatory reference to CIRAS (the Confidential Incident Reporting System), which says that “the governance arrangements were radically overhauled in 2005, creating a more cost effective, streamlined structure. The overhaul now makes it possible to include all industry staff in the system.”

Possible maybe, but how many people know about it? Has the usage increased or fallen? I have always been convinced by the arguments that for every accident, there are a large number of near misses and if the details of these are openly and quickly reported and acted upon, injuries and even fatalities may be avoided. But at least this year’s plan says that the intention is to “promote the existence of a credible confidential reporting system” and goes on to refer to the benefits this could bring.

‘Hit or Miss’
Apart from the dreadful number of track staff fatalities last year, there were too many major injuries. Tellingly, the number of reported near misses is about the same as the number of these injuries. If almost all the near misses were reported, I would expect their number to be five or even ten times the injury report figures. My conclusion is that the majority of near misses are going unreported. This reasoning is based in the safety culture of our people.

But there is reason for optimism at last! Network Rail’s overdue campaign - ‘Safety 365’ - is now being rolled out across the industry. The DVD ‘Hit or Miss’ will raise some eyebrows with its down-to-earth language, but it is good. Older readers may recall a video titled ‘Deadly Serious About Safety’ which shocked both track workers and their managers before privatisation.

The two are comparable, and that video helped reduce fatalities to zero for well over a year. I would have liked the scene where the new widow is told of her husband’s death to have included his manager, to help bring home the message to frontline bosses. But it is a good start, and now we need a focused and continuing effort throughout the year, leaving me with less to write about!

Just one slightly edited (to protect the identity of the writer) response to my December article makes the point better than I can:
“Having worked on the railway for five years, I’ve had safety drummed into me no end of times. Being a road/rail driver, you have to be spot on with safety with all the workers around you. But over a period of 18 months, I’ve seen safety deteriorate with machine controllers not checking if your tickets are in date. I haven’t shown mine for at least six months now. It seems to me there is a trend within major contractors of putting considerable pressure on their employees to break the rules, and when you stand your ground you are classed as being awkward.

Tell me when will Network Rail and their contractors stand by the rules they make? When more trackmen are dead? I don’t think so; it’s all gone back to thinking about profits before their men. I seriously think there is going to be another group fatality like Tebay.”

Get out, listen and learn
The views expressed by the writer reflect those of others who wrote to me last year, but his letter draws together many concerns. Network Rail’s chief executive is on record as saying that getting the job done should never be a priority over safety, but the reality of a dark, cold, wet possession with hand back time fast approaching, leads those in charge on the night to push safety away.

The answer, I firmly believe, is an industry wide safety campaign aimed at all who qualify to work on our railway, led from the very top, with regular director and managing director level visits to work sites. Getting out, being seen and listening will dramatically improve safety and most probably productivity at the same time! From my own experience I know of the importance of unannounced visits to the sites where one is not expected. Once a pattern is established, every track worker is left wondering if it will be his site tonight.

That is precisely the thinking that needs to be generated. For those who go to sites, around 0200 hours is often best when the work is fully underway. I can guarantee that apart from doing a good job by merely being there, you will always learn something new as well!

The message will spread like wildfire!
The Railway Strategic Safety Plan for 2006 does refer to the need to “review behaviours amongst the workforce.” Judging by my correspondence, training and safety behaviours are going wrong at front line management level and this is what needs to be tackled. Reliance on tick list completing safety auditors or other more qualified safety professionals may assist, but top management presence, and a conviction of the writers of letters similar to the one printed above - that safety first is the top priority, will only be earned and achieved when the chief visits the sites. The railway bush telegraph will then spread the message like wildfire!

Academic safety gobbledygook
I don’t believe we need the (doubtless expensive) academic safety gobbledygook that one initiative in the plan suggests - “develop a new precursor indicator model for workforce safety and review the potential use of such models in other areas, such as passenger safety at stations.” Well we all agree with that don’t we?

But then I must admit to being cynical about another initiative from the RSSB. They have now established a team of four Decision Support Managers - one of whom it is claimed is “experienced in decision making theory” and “applying multi-criteria decision analysis... in a variety of business contexts.”

Mustard on the beef sandwich?
Did the groups who worked over Christmas and New Year know that these people existed to help? As the reader who wrote to me said, “can I ring them up, and ask them as a manager working within the railway group whether or not I should put mustard on my beef sandwich? More seriously can I ring them up, when things go wrong and mitigate my wrong decision, which caused the accident by saying I relied on the RSSB support manager?”

I would question whether or not the industry needs them, and if we do, who should employ and pay for them. Can we afford them? Does their very existence not mean that some managers are not up to doing their jobs?

My heart felt thanks to those who write in and help keep me up to date with what is really going on. I enjoyed my Christmas and New Year. Having read through this article I began to accuse myself of turning into a grumpy old man.

But if that is what it takes to improve the safety of those who work on our railway infrastructure and thereby ensuring that you are all around to enjoy Christmas and New Year 2006/07, so be it.

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