SMIS +
Developing next generation
safety reporting and business
intelligence systems
Developing next generation safety reporting and
business intelligence systems
Britain’s railway has collaborated closely over many years
to establish robust reporting of safety incidents and
accidents. This has yielded substantial data and analysis,
contributing to an evidence base from which industry can
make informed decisions.
As part of the rail industry’s health and safety strategy,
there is a commitment to improve this capability through
next generation reporting systems and risk models.
This means we are modernising safety reporting services
across the rail industry, starting with the integration of a
new Safety Management Information System (SMIS) and
a new Close Call system into one system. This programme
is called SMIS+.
Safety Management Information System
SMIS is the rail industry’s national database for recording
safety-related events that occur on the rail network in
Britain. We manage SMIS on industry’s behalf, supporting
the collection, analysis and sharing of information about
a wide range of incidents, which are reported by our
members, the individual rail companies. It has been in
operation since 1997, and organisations such as Network
Rail, the train and freight operators enter about 75,000
events into each year.
Close Call System
The Close Call System was launched in June 2011 to
enable the rail industry to record and manage conditions
and behaviours that, under different circumstances, could
have led to injury or harm. This information is used to
mitigate risk and understand broader safety issues.
Initially used by Network Rail and its principal contractors
there is now a wider impetus to use the system to drive
improvements in safety culture and safety performance
throughout the rail industry.
Why SMIS+?
Our members – the individual rail companies - have to
comply with legislation and regulation to manage their
own safety, and so they need access to reliable, high
quality data to understand the nature of the issues they
face and whether action taken is effective.
There are also clear commitments and opportunities for
collaboration on health and safety risk areas, which have
been highlighted in the health and safety strategy, and
which will require the continuous improvement of shared
reporting systems.
The existing systems have served the industry well but in
the long term won’t meet organisations’ needs. Existing
systems need upgrading to keep up with IT developments,
as the technology will become out-of-date, and ultimately
more expensive and time consuming to maintain.
What’s the vision?
The SMIS+ programme aims to create a new on-line
system exploiting commercial off-the-shelf, state of the
art, safety management software.
The first two phases of the new SMIS+ system will offer
industry a more intuitive and powerful tool to report and
track all safety-related incidents and ‘close calls’ in a
new common format, while at the same time securing a
significant reduction in the annual support, hosting and
on-going development costs. New business intelligence
features will also allow stakeholders to create their own
local safety performance and close call dashboards.
Gradually, more advanced features will become available,
such as the ability to allow people to record and manage
safety incidents and close calls via mobile devices and the
use of business process workflow software.
The underlying purpose – to support the industry in how
it manages its safety data and uses information to make
informed decisions – remains the same. This applies both
at company and industry level as the benefits of better
data and analysis apply to an individual organisation’s
needs as well as opportunities for collaborative effort
outlined in the health and safety strategy.
The first two phases – replacing SMIS and
Close Call
We have started work on the first two phases, to build
the new system to replace SMIS and Close Call.
The first main release is planned for November 2016,
with the basic essential SMIS incident reporting features
going live.
There will be a second release scheduled for March
2017 to include Close Call reporting functions and
additional features.
We have appointed a leading IT solutions company,
Ideagen, to help us design and build the new system.
We are adopting Ideagen’s Enlighten software solution
as the platform for the new SMIS+ system.
We’re building the different parts of the system using a
systematic and thorough analysis of the data and system
requirements across a range of themes and capabilities.
This means pulling in participation from system users,
industry experts, safety heads and cross-industry groups, as
well as a Design Advisory Group to help us make the final
decisions about the new system’s design and functions.
How does this affect you?
SMIS+ is a substantial programme of work which
will affect anyone who has a role or interest in their
organisation’s safety management system
including reporting safety incidents, close calls, and
tracking investigations.
Individual companies will need to consider carefully
what they need to do in order to implement the new
system effectively.
We will be working with executive sponsors and senior
leads in each RSSB member organisation to help support
business change plans and keep in touch with them on
progress. We will provide them with tools for them to
assess the change, communications materials for them
to use in their companies, training opportunities, drop-in
sessions, as well as web-based and face-to-face meetings.
The whole programme has substantial high level support
from across the industry, including the RSSB Board and
industry groups including the Infrastructure Safety Liaison
Group (ISLG), ATOC Safety Group and National Freight
Safety Group (NFSG).
We’re working to meet their expectations and aspirations
for a new system to be developed over a fairly tight
timescale, with phase one delivered at the end of Nov
2016 and phase two March 2017, and want to make sure
organisations are fully supported, prepared and able to
implement the new system.
More information
If you currently use SMIS or Close Call, you should
make sure you’re in touch with your SMIS+ lead in your
company to stay informed.
If you’re interested in knowing more about this
programme, contact the SMIS+ Programme team via
email at: SMIS+@rssb.co.uk.
Email:enquirydesk@rssb.co.uk
Tel:
+44 (0) 20 3142 5300
Twitter:@RSSB_rail
Web:www.rssb.co.uk