Railway Safety Management - A Regulators point of view
Talk given by Railway Group Chair -
Iain Ferguson at North Staffs South Cheshire
District.
We were very grateful to Iain Ferguson,
Railway Inspectorate for stepping in at short notice following the
late withdrawal of our scheduled speaker John Sherratt from Astrac
(Safety & Training) Limited
Iain began by showing the improvements
in rail safety over the past 50 years for both passengers and rail
workers. He discussed recent accidents on the Railways. With the help of slides
and some Rolf Harris style impromptu drawing was able to explain
the reasons for the safety failures. A brief outline of the Railway
and the companies involved followed together with the problems they
faced. Particularly hazardous activates such as work on the
operational railway while trains are running was highlighted for
particular concern.
As with most industries
once the bulk of accident has been reduced there is a plateau which
it is difficult to improve on. Iain and the Industry Railway group
have given this a lot of consideration and a number of new
practices/ideas have been trialled by companies and these are
encouraged.
From the regulators point
of view then Safety Management Systems SMS are the key to driving
down accidents and this is why Iain has devoted, much of his time
into incorporating the well known SMS models of HSG 65 and ISO18001
into the Railway Management Maturity Model RM3. This is now being
used by the Inspectorate to determine the capability of management
systems within the Industry to deliver excellence.
Iain then went on to talk
about the model and its application. Copies of which are available
to members via the past meeting
library and also some of the slides from the
presentation.
Iain was given the speaker present
by Richard and thanked again for standing in at the last minute. A
warm round of applause followed and a number of attendees were
surprised at what they had learnt on the night and all went away
better for the experience. This is why members are encouraged to
attend all meetings
as you never know what you can learn.
The new program for 2011 will be
out shortly and we have an interesting programme of events
including a visit to a Salt Mine. Our next meeting is in February
and is on Performance Indicators.
All I need to do now is to wish you
all a Happy Christmas from the Committee Team and we look forward
to seeing you again in the New Year.
Best regards Philip Gallimore Media
officer