AGENDA ITEM: A1
MEETING: RSSB Board Meeting
DATE: 05 March 2015
SUBJECT: Rail Industry Health and Safety Strategy: briefing paper
SPONSOR: Chris Fenton
AUTHOR: John Abbott
1. Purpose
To inform the board of progress with the development of the proposed Rail
Industry Health and Safety Strategy and seek endorsement of the review arrangements at the April 2015 Industry Safety Meeting.
2. Background
2.1 In September 2014 the Network Rail Chief Executive proposed to the Rail
Delivery Group (RDG) that a rail safety strategy should be developed for the mainline rail network. RDG discussed the proposal and invited Network Rail to further develop the concept.
2.2 Network Rail appointed Roan Wilmore to lead the development of the strategy.
The need for cross-industry collaboration was recognised and RSSB was then approached by Roan in November 2014 to facilitate the project.
2.3 The System Safety Risk Group (SSRG) discussed the proposal to develop a safety strategy at its December 2014 meeting and requested that a stakeholder workshop is organised to develop the approach.
2.4 The board were briefed on developments at their last meeting.
3. Progress report
3.1 On 13 January 2015 RSSB hosted a workshop of key industry stakeholders to consider the following:

Purpose and benefits

Principles

Headline contents

Governance
The workshop was chaired by Charles Horton and the following was agreed: a. There would be added value in the development of a suitable safety strategy b. The strategy should address both health and safety and link to other relevant cross-industry strategies c. The basic purpose, approach and likely benefits d. The strategy should focus on the risks and subjects requiring collaborative action by all rail companies
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AGENDA ITEM: A1 e. A short statement of principles should be developed and issued for formal consultation f. Subject to the consultation outcome, the strategy should be developed and submitted to the April 2015 Industry Safety Meeting for endorsement.
3.2 A short principles paper has been prepared, its content agreed with the workshop participants and has been issued for consultation to all main stakeholder groups. (annex removed for publication)
3.3 In parallel with the above, scoping and development of the strategy has commenced and headline content is going to include:

Foreword

Purpose

Visual explanation of how safety is managed on the modern railway

Overview of current health and safety risk, performance and challenges

Specific cross-industry risk improvement strategies

Specific cross-industry strategies to improve management capability

Approach to horizon scanning

Governance and review arrangements
The headline content (but not full drafting) is to be reviewed at the March 2015 meeting of the SSRG.
4. Review arrangements at the April 2015 Industry Safety Meeting (ISM)
4.1 Recognising the volume of development work required and that the next ISM is scheduled for 15 April 2015, the following is proposed: a. A headline presentation pack is prepared for ISM attendees and issued one week before the meeting b. The presentation pack will be structured to reflect the content of the strategy including specific risk and management capability improvements c. The timetable for completion
4.2 The ISM will be invited to review and endorse the content and also identify any gaps, omissions or missed opportunities.
5. Recommendations
The RSSB board is invited to:

NOTE progress with development of the proposed Rail Industry Health and Safety Strategy and

ENDORSE the planned review arrangements at the next ISM
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