AGENDA ITEM: C1
MEETING:
RSSB Board Meeting
DATE:
02 July 2015
SUBJECT:
Annual Safety Performance Report
SPONSORS:
AUTHORS:
Chris Fenton
George Bearfield
1.
Purpose of the paper
1.1
The purpose of this paper is to:


Present the headline points of the Annual Safety Performance Report (ASPR)
and the Learning from Operational (LOE) Experience report to the board
To request the board to advise on:
o use of this information to support the identification and delivery of
industry safety initiatives through the System Safety Risk Group
(SSRG)
o arrangements for briefing out this material to all interested parties
2.
Background
2.1
RSSB publishes two sister documents in July of each year: the ASPR and LOE reports.
The ASPR presents a comprehensive breakdown of the safety performance of the GB railway,
including analysis of trends in safety performance over recent years.
2.2
The LOE report summarises key incidents, and relevant industry initiatives to improve safety.
It also describes and promotes more general industry approaches to support learning and
continuous improvement in industry safety performance.
1.3
These reports have always been considered to be complementary. The format of these
reports has been unchanged for many years, but this year structural changes have been made
to the ASPR to better align its content with the scope of interest of the SSRG and its subgroups. This initial change is seen as the start of ongoing review of these and similar reports,
to ensure that they develop to support the industry in its management of safety risk at all
levels.
3.
ASPR/LOE Headlines
3.1
A presentation of the key points from the 2014/2015 ASPR and LOE report will be made at
the board meeting.
3.2
The key findings of the ASPR are:

There were no passenger or workforce fatalities in train accidents. This is the eighth
year in succession with no such fatalities: the longest sustained period on record.

Three passengers and one member of the public died in accidents at stations.

Ten members of the public died in accidents at level crossings; two were drivers whose
vehicles were involved in collisions with trains.

Two members of the workforce were fatally injured in road traffic accidents and one
worker died in an accident in a train depot.

Twenty-two people were fatally injured while trespassing on the railway.
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3.3
The key findings of the LOE report are:






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Train operations - Two freight derailments on Network Rail metals – at Gloucester and
Camden Road West Junction (both 15 October 2013) – raised questions about loading,
track condition and compliance with standards. A cross-industry working group has been
convened to consider the situation. Similarly, a ten-year SPAD strategy has been
launched to manage a risk which we have never overlooked but of which we were
reminded by the double SPAD at Greenford (March 2014) and the more serious –
potentially catastrophic – incident at Wootton Bassett Junction in March 2015.
People on trains and in stations - RSSB regular updates on risk and safety performance
continue to highlight the risk at the platform-train interface. A number of incidents on
which RAIB reported in 2014/15 highlighted the ongoing need for this focus, with specific
reference to train dispatch procedures, the operation of train doors and the slope of
station platforms towards the track. In terms of key initiatives the industry Platform Train
Interface strategy, was launched in the year.
Infrastructure workers - Investigations continue to highlight the dangers of track
working, inadequate safe systems of working, and culture. However, RAIB activity also
raised questions of equipment modification, possession length and permitted speeds in
worksites.
Road driving risk- Many GB rail companies employ large road fleets and there is an
increasing understanding of the risks involved and the range of people that can be
affected. A fatal accident in June 2014 revealed fatigue as a factor, but also demonstrated
gaps in our safety management systems. The industry is now working to fill these gaps
via a bespoke Road Driving Risk Group.
Level crossings - Level crossings represent low risk to passengers and workforce, but
higher risk to members of the public, who are largely responsible for their own
movements, taking account of warning signs and other controls. The industry has a duty
to ensure both that the signs and controls are fit for purpose and that its operations allow
the users to understand and follow them.
Investigations and recommendations - During 2014/15, RAIB published 24 reports, 20
of which involved incidents on the mainline railway. The 20 led to 70 recommendations.
The area of infrastructure asset management received the most focus.
CIRAS - CIRAS received 978 contacts on a diverse range of topics in 2014/15. Of these,
216 (22%) became reports after the screening process. Positive results included
amendments to the training given to banksmen, train dispatch arrangements, road
vehicle driving and safety critical (radio) communications (inter alia).
4.
The relationship of the ASPR and LOE to the work of the SSRG
4.1
Work is underway to ingrain the agreed industry risk management processes described in the
publication ‘taking safe decisions’, into the ongoing working arrangements of the SSRG and
its sub-groups. At its most simple the risk management framework from ‘taking safe
decisions’ applies to the SSRG and its groups broadly as:



Safety Monitoring: Is the railway safe or might an initiative or action be needed?
Analysing and selecting options: According to the opportunity for risk reduction and the
available resources what (if anything) should be done?
Implementation: How best can initiatives take effect? Once they are implemented, how
effective are they?
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4.2
The setting up of the SSRG and its associated sub-groups sets a certain perspective on the
consideration of safety risk (for example one group looks at the risk from train operations,
whereas another looks at the risk to passengers in stations). This year the content of the
ASPR has been restructured to align it to the structure of the SSRG and its sub-groups. This
creates operational efficiencies (as the routine reporting to these groups can be used to build
the ASPR content over the course of the year) and will help the content of the ASPR to be
used effectively to support the safety monitoring activity described above as the ‘taking safe
decisions’ process is fully ingrained in the work of the groups.
4.3
Further work is needed to ingrain the other aspects of the process in the work of SSRG and
its sub-groups. These groups have recently begun to undertake more rigorous structured
analysis of priority risk areas to identify initiatives and good practice strengthening other
aspects of the ‘taking safe decisions’ approach. Further work is needed to consider the
effective dissemination and learning from these activities, and in particular monitoring their
effectiveness at reducing safety risk over time. A similar restructuring of the LOE report, to
align its content with the structure of the groups and the new ASPR would help with this, and
similarly allow this report to more clearly become an evolving record of the effectiveness of
industry initiatives, activity and learning over the course of each year.
4.4
As part of this gradual process of alignment to the ‘taking safe decisions’ process, there is an
opportunity for SSRG to review the contents of the ASPR and LOE report in order to reach an
informed view of the extent to which the collective resources of RSSB and the wider industry
are focussed in the most productive areas for improving safety. Further improvements and
efficiencies to the work of the groups could also be identified. A date has provisionally been
set aside for October to do this.
5.
Dissemination
5.1
Since its initial publication the ASPR has traditionally been launched with an invite only event
hosted at RSSB offices. In the early 2000’s when press and public concern about railway safety
was comparatively high this consisted of attendees from the industry, the regulator,
government, academia and also the press and groups like passenger focus. Presentations
were detailed and intended to provide confidence in the safety of the railway. Over time this
format has changed and attendance has become more aligned to users of the safety
performance and risk information in the reports as is indicated by the content of section 4.
5.2
The ASPR and LOE reports are planned to be published on the RSSB website following this
board meeting. It is currently also planned that on the 8 July RSSB director of system safety,
George Bearfield will be giving a presentation and taking questions on this year’s
performance figures and trends via a webinar for the first time. The presentation would also
include the key findings from this year’s ‘Learning from Operational Experience’ annual
report. The presentation will enable broad dissemination of the key information, and allow
many types of people access to the information. RSSB regional roadshows planned for the
autumn will provide further opportunities to share and discuss the outputs and findings of
the work with our members.
5.3
However further consideration is needed around who the audience for the information in
the report is, and how best to provide the information to them, now and on an ongoing basis.
6.
Co-ordination of industry reporting
6.1
Over recent years the development of the ASPR and the annual reports of RAIB and the ORR
has become much closer and more integrated. For example, this year the lead parties for
each met and discussed and agreed on key messages and the ORR report presents safety
performance data provided by RSSB. Although the reports have different scopes and
purposes the question of how best to co-ordinate them and present them over time is one
on which board views would be very valuable.
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7.
7.1
Recommendations
The board is requested to:
 APPROVE the publication of the ASPR and LOE reports.
 NOTE the plans for industry briefing and consider further actions.
 CONSIDER how best to evolve the ASPR and LOE reports to support the development and
delivery of safety initiatives through the SSRG and its sub-groups, and to align with regular
industry safety reporting outside RSSB.
 REQUEST the SSRG to consider the findings of the ASPR and LOE report and report back
on the implications of this for current safety strategies and plans of work.
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