COMMENT
regulatory body. We have no enforcement powers: we can’t require anyone to do anything. We’re an information conduit rather than anything else. But it really is quite pleasing how often employers come back to us and have said ‘thank you for relying this information, we didn’t know about this case and we’re really rather glad you told us about it before anything went wrong’.
“I know CIRAS staff get tremendously cheered when they get that sort of feedback, because they really feel they are adding value to the railway industry, which is what the aim is.”
CIRAS has a complex relationship with the RSSB, with which it shares an office building in London’s Torrens Street – but not office space.
Morris explained the history: “CIRAS
was originally established as a charitable trust independent of everything else in the railway industry, and had a regional structure, when it was expanded from its original base in Scotland 10 years or so ago. But it proved to be an expensive way or running the organisation, and the charitable trust agreed to become part of the RSSB in that we are provided with resource and office space by them. RSSB are represented on our committee, as are train operators, trades unions and a range of independent members.
“But we’re independent of RSSB, and are funded separately by the employers. We think it’s important to retain that, though we do make use of intelligence from RSSB in our work and they make use of our work as well. It would otherwise be very easy, given RSSB’s structure, for information about people who have contacted us to ‘leak’ back into the industry.
“So, we maintain a very clear distinction between CIRAS on the second floor of the Torrens Street office block, with a separate bit of the floor, and we pay our own way in terms of office charges and so on. So we’re independent of RSSB but part of RSSB at the same time – fairly typical of the way we do things in the rail industry in this country!” he joked.
He has no doubt that recent years have seen phenomenal improvements in railway safety more generally.
He told RTM: “I became involved in railway safety at a very bad time for the railways – shortly after the Ladbroke Grove incident. There was an awful lot of uninformed but understandable criticism of the industry
CIRAS in action (Text from the CIRAS newsletter, ‘The Reporter’)
Report:
The state of a walkway known as the ‘Bristol Mile’ between Bristol Temple Meads and Barton railway sidings is very uneven and poorly maintained, present- ing a slip, trip and fall hazard to staff. Despite new lights being installed, some areas are still poorly lit with no clear pe- destrian markings. Vehicles also use this route making it hazardous. The reporter would like Network Rail to:
• resurface and tarmac the route to make it even;
• clearly demark the walking route; and • provide more adequate lighting, espe- cially for night walking.
Response from Network Rail:
Network Rail (NR) would like to thank the reporter for bringing their concerns to our attention. An assessment of the ‘Bristol Mile’ has been carried out and we agree that the shared access could be made safer. NR are responsible for a section of the Bristol Mile which allows access to its own infrastructure and to the DB Schenker depot.
NR will carry out the access upgrade to the section it is responsible for with a proposed completion by March 2011.
The upgrade will provide a level walking surface and marked area for staff to walk so that vehicles and walkers will be sep- arated, reducing the amount of hazards that are currently present.
As part of the NR assessment, it was found that lighting installations are work- ing correctly; however, a single lamp had failed which has now been rectified.
The lighting levels were also checked and NR can confirm that they exceed the minimum levels required by the current Railway Group Standard. However, NR currently has plans to renew the lighting installation in the next financial year.
in the light of the series of tragic accidents there had been then. I think it is very impressive to see how the industry has weathered that storm and has delivered continual improvement in safety over the past decade, and certainly looking back even further than that, before I became
involved in the industry, the continual progress has been very impressive indeed.
“Any one accident is one accident too many and the industry always needs to strive to be perfect. It’s had a pretty good run recently but there are no grounds for being complacent. In some other industries, it’s very easy to imagine people sitting back on their laurels and saying ‘we’ve done it’. I’m pleased to say that very few people in the railway industry have that sort of air of complacency about them. They know that safety is the number one issue, both for passengers and for the workforce, and it is impressive the attention that is given to the issue as the work progresses.
“The question is, how do you deliver that essential priority in a changing world, with changing structures in the industry, at a time when the economics of the industry are under great pressure? How is the McNulty value-for-money study going to change the world? How do we ensure that the safety performance we are currently achieving isn’t compromised as the consequent changes are implemented?
“David Higgins of Network Rail puts safety at the top of the priority list. It doesn’t surprise me – that’s the nature of the railway’s psychology.”
David Morris
FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit
www.ciras.org.uk
rail technology magazine Apr/May 11 | 29
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