Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1
Road driving risk
Within this report, road driving refers to any member of the workforce travelling by means of a
motorised vehicle between sites while on duty, or travelling to and from their home to a nonregular place of work, including door-to-door taxi provision.
This chapter investigates the impact of this activity on the wide variety of railway roles, from
station staff to infrastructure worker sub-contractors.
A breakdown of statistics related to workforce fatalities and injuries is presented in the key
safety statistics table at the end of this chapter.
2014/15 Headlines

There were two workforce fatalities in separate road traffic accidents in 2014/15. One was
an infrastructure worker travelling between sites, and the other was an office worker
travelling to a non-regular place of work.

In total, during 2014/15, there were: two fatalities, four major injuries, 104 minor injuries
and 10 cases of shock/trauma reported. This equates to 2.7 FWI, which is almost level with
the 2.8 FWI occurring in 2013/14.

There is a clearly increasing level of reported harm from road driving incidents over the last
10 years: this is likely to reflect increased awareness and reporting rather than increased
risk.

Although road driving risk has come under focus within the industry, with a consequent
improvement in reporting levels, there is still work to be done to ensure that all injuries not
currently covered by the Railway Group Standard, but covered by HSE guidance are
recorded. Since 2005/06, there have been six fatalities recorded in SMIS as being workrelated, but a number of other fatalities are known to have occurred, which have not been
reported.
Road driving risk at a glance
Risk in context (SRMv8.1)
Trend in harm
2.8
2.7
2014/15
Weighted injuries
Fatalities
3.0
2013/14
3.5
0.3
1.3
0.6
2010/11
<0.1 <0.1 <0.1
0.3
2009/10
0.0
2007/08
0.5
2008/09
1.0
1.4
2012/13
1.5
2011/12
2.0
2006/07
Risk to the
workforce
from driving
whilst on duty
(1.2 FWI; 1%)
2005/06
Other
accidental risk
(138.4 FWI;
99%)
FWI
2.5
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1.1
Required scope of road driving risk
Within this report, reference to road driving risk and
accidents refers to any member of the workforce
travelling for work purposes. This is defined as
travelling from their home to somewhere else that is
not their usual place of work, and from their usual
place of work to somewhere that is not their usual
place of work. This does not include commuting,
which is from their home to their usual place of work.
The diagram on the right indicates the current
required scope of reporting for road driving risk.
Although accidents while commuting to and from
work do not fall within the scope of the Standard, HSE
guidance (INDG382 Driving At Work – Managing
Work Related Road Safety) indicates that “Health &
safety law does not apply to people commuting (ie.
Travelling between their home and their usual place
of work), unless they are travelling from their home to
somewhere which is not their usual place of work….”
1.1.1
Home
Temporary
places of
work
Usual place
of work
Journeys in scope
Recording data about road driving accidents and injuries
SMIS was created for building commonality in incident reporting among rail companies, and has
identified a number of key safety concerns across the industry since its implementation, but we
have not benefitted to the same extent in understanding road driving risk.
The industry is required by the relevant Railway Group Standard to record in SMIS any incidence
of fatalities or injuries to the workforce occurring as a result of a road traffic accident while
driving on duty between sites, to carry out work in association with the maintenance or working
of the operational railway. Companies have tended to develop their own databases, recording
these incidents at various levels of detail, but we are now seeing a concerted effort throughout
the industry to collate these reports centrally in SMIS to enable increased analysis and
understanding.
The Road Driving Risk Project Steering Group (RDR PSG) was established by the RSSB Board in
May 2013. The purpose of the group was to engage with the rail industry and increase
awareness and understanding of road driving risks to workers and the business, such as by the
provision of guidance to improve driving behaviour. Since its inception, the group has developed
the RSSB RDR webpage1, published briefings on Arriva Trains taxi arrangements, Network Rail
Safety Trucks, driverless cars, and produced an A5 leaflet Driving down the risk.
Some initial objectives set for the group included developing reliable arrangements for reporting
and analysing road traffic accidents, evaluating and developing work-related road driving
principles for measuring safety management system (SMS) performance across the industry, and
providing a resource centre on road driving risk to help rail managers understand and share
good practice and continually raise awareness.
1
http://www.rssb.co.uk/pages/improving-industry-performance/road-driving-risk.aspx
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
The group was formed with cross-industry representation, with the structure shown below:
RSSB
Board
Principal
Contractors
RIAG
External
Parties
(HSE,ORR, RoSPA,
ACPO, RMT)
ATOC
Train Operating
Companies
SSRG
TSA
ISLG
RSSB
Agency Staff
Suppliers
Road Driving Risk
Project
Steering Group
RICA
NFSG
RPA
NR
Road Risk
Steering Group
(IP/NSC/S&SD)
Rail Plant
Suppliers
Note: Scope is GB mainline railway
Safety Forum
Freight Operating
Companies
Network Rail
Infrastructure Managers
The scope of the project goes beyond the scope of this report, and includes the following:

All employees of rail duty holders, contractors and subcontractors

The consequences of their actions (third parties and damage)

All travel, including commuting

All modes of transport including cycling

‘Door-to-Door’ taxi provision (eg Eurostar business class)

Bus or taxi replacement services

NOT passenger journeys to and from stations where not provided by a duty holder
In March 2015 a cross-industry meeting, supported by Institution of Occupational Safety and
Health (IOSH), was held to discuss road driving risk. The day saw talks given by industry
representatives, ORR, RSSB, European transport group and an interactive session conducted by
Dr Will Murray. Another event is planned for November 2015.
Further work planned by the group during 2015/16 includes:

Defining what is a work journey

Agreeing the reporting scope of road traffic accidents

Defining and updating SMIS so all road driving incidents and accidents are reported
The group is trialling a dashboard format to present road driving risk in the industry, which has
the potential to be used to develop a template for risk areas in other industry sectors.
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1.2
Fatalities and injuries in 2014/15
Fatalities
There were two workforce fatalities in two separate incidents in 2014/152.

On 1 May 2014, on the A7 at Craighall in Scotland, an infrastructure worker, who was driving
a tractor and trailer, was involved in a collision with a lorry, and was fatally injured.

On 10 February 2015, near Waterloo in the South East, an office-based worker, who was
travelling by motorbike to a meeting in a location different from his normal place of work,
was involved in a road traffic accident and fatally injured.
Major injuries

There were four major injuries from road driving in 2014/15.
Minor injuries

There were 104 recorded minor injuries, 24 (23%) of which were Class 1 (ie the injured party
was incapacitated from normal duties for more than three days, not including the day of the
injury).
Shock and trauma

2
There were 10 recorded cases of shock or trauma, all of which were Class 1 (ie occurred in
an accident that had a notable risk for a fatal outcome).
In June 2014, there was a road traffic accident that tragically resulted in the deaths of a number of infrastructure workers. The
event occurred when the workers were not on duty, and were not reported into SMIS. The issue of scope, with particular reference
to road driving risk, is currently being reviewed by the industry in the RDR PSG.
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1.3
Trends in workforce injuries from road driving
The increasing trend in the reported number of road driving injuries is striking, but it is likely to
reflect an improvement in reporting rather than an increase in risk. We can see evidence for an
improvement in reporting when we look at how the recorded number of injuries has changed
for lesser degrees of injury, particularly minor injuries.
Road driving injuries by injury degree
15
Shock and trauma
10
5
2
0
120
69
67
74
2
1
1
1
2011/12
2012/13
11
10
97
104
5
4
2
2
2013/14
2014/15
Minor injuries
40
0
10
8
6
4
2
0
4
3
2
1
0
23
18
45
51
2
2
6
Major injuries
4
Fatalities
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
At 120, the number of road driving
injuries in 2014/15 was similar to the 115
recorded in 2013/14. Over a third of the
recorded road driving injuries have been
in the last two years, in line with the
increasing focus this area is receiving.
Since 2005/06 there have been a total of
six fatalities recorded in SMIS.
2009/10
2010/11
Chart 2.
Trend in road driving harm by injury
degree
3.0
2.8
Shock and trauma
Minor injuries
Major injuries
Fatalities
2.5
2.0
1.4
1.5
2.7
1.3
1.0
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2009/10
2008/09
2007/08
0.6
The SRMv8.1 estimate for the risk to the
0.5
0.3 0.3
workforce from road driving is 1.2 FWI
<0.1 <0.1 <0.1
0.0
per year, but this was averaged over a
four-year period up to September 2013,
and later years have been notably in
excess of this. There is a clearly increasing level of reported harm from road driving incidents
over the last 10 years: this is likely to reflect increased awareness and reporting rather than
increased risk. However, there is still work to be done to ensure that all injuries not
currently covered by the Railway Group Standard, but covered by HSE guidance (see section
1.1) are reported.
2006/07

6
2005/06

7
80
2005/06

9
6
FWI
Fatalities
Major injuries
Minor injuries
Shock and trauma
Chart 1.
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1.3.1
Trend in injuries by type of worker
The next chart shows the trend in harm for each type of worker.
Chart 3.
Harm from road driving injuries by type of worker
3.0
Shock and trauma
Minor injuries
Major injuries
Fatalities
2.4
2.5
FWI
2.0
1.5
1.3
1.4
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.5
0.4
0.4
<0.1 <0.1 <0.1<0.1
0.1
0.1
<0.1<0.1 <0.1 <0.1<0.1 <0.1
<0.1
<0.1 <0.1
Infrastructure workers
Station staff
Revenue protection
staff
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2013/14
Train crew
2014/15
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
0.0
Other workforce

All but one of the recorded fatalities were infrastructure workers. The exception, which
happened in 2014/15, was an office-worker, travelling to a non-regular place of
employment.

The nature of infrastructure work involves a relatively large amount of driving to or from
different sites of work, which may be some distance away. Although there are rules and
guidelines which are there to avoid fatigue, there are challenges to managing such risks out
in the field. Even with good practice in this area, the risk from road driving cannot be
eliminated and (as Chapter Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source not
found. shows) is not a negligible hazard.

Train crew and station staff are also exposed to road driving risk, but will travel less
frequently by road between sites, and their transport will more generally be provided by
external companies, so they are not as likely to be exposed to the risk from fatigue.

The Other workforce category comprises people delivering to site, signallers, mobile
operations managers (MOMs), as well as non-operational staff. One of the two fatalities
during 2014/15 was in this category, and was an office-based worker travelling to a meeting.
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1.3.2
Trend in injuries by industry sectors
The chart below shows the number of road driving injuries over the last 10 years, this time
broken down by industry sectors.
Network Rail
Contractors
TOC
FOC
Other
Chart 4.
25
20
15
10
5
0
10
8
6
4
2
0
20
15
10
5
0
15
12
9
6
3
0
100
80
60
40
20
0
Road driving injuries by industry sector
20
7
5
4
13
17
19
4
5
4
4
4
2
4
17
4
18
11
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
34
40
2008/09
2009/10
56
47
2010/11
2011/12
8
13
14
15
13
79
72
2013/14
2014/15
6
62
2012/13

Over the past 10 years, the greatest proportion of road driving incidents has involved staff
working for Network Rail (67%). The majority of these events have involved infrastructure
workers; the nature of infrastructure work requires travel to, from and between work sites.
The Contractors category also comprises infrastructure workers, and accounts for 7% of
reported injuries.

The categories TOC, FOC and Other account for around one quarter of reported injuries. A
number of these events involve train drivers, station staff and other members of the
workforce travelling by taxi to work locations.
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
The following chart shows the trends in harm for each industry sector.
Chart 5.
Harm from road driving injuries by industry sector
2.5
Shock and trauma
2.2
Minor injuries
Major injuries
2.0
Fatalities
1.5
1.3
FWI
1.2 1.2
1.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.2
0.1
<0.1 <0.1
0.2
0.1
<0.1
<0.1
<0.1<0.1<0.1
0.1
<0.1 <0.1<0.1<0.1
Network Rail
Contractors
TOC
FOC
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
2014/15
2013/14
2012/13
2011/12
2010/11
0.0
Other

The groups most prominent in the charts are Network Rail and the Contractor sector. These
groups have the highest number of staff engaged in road driving as part of carrying out their
work, and are therefore more exposed to this area of risk.

While TOCs and FOCs also have staff driving on duty, the numbers are much lower for these
groups. These staff are more likely to be sent via taxi than to drive the vehicles themselves,
while on duty.
Appendices: Glossary
_________________________________________________________________
1.4
Key safety statistics: road driving risk
Road driving
Fatalities
Network Rail
Contractors
FOC
TOC
Unknown
Major injuries
Network Rail
Contractors
FOC
TOC
Unknown
Minor injuries
Class 1
Class 2
Incidents of shock
Class 1
Class 2
Fatalities and weighted injuries
Network Rail
Contractors
FOC
TOC
Unknown
2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
0
1
1
2
2
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
2
1
5
4
4
1
1
2
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
69
67
74
97
104
18
23
15
30
24
51
44
59
67
80
9
7
6
11
10
9
7
6
11
10
0
0
0
0
0
0.59
1.39
1.26
2.77
2.65
0.50
1.21
1.23
0.40
1.26
0.00
0.00
0.01
2.22
1.02
0.00
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.10
0.06
0.16
0.01
0.14
0.04
0.02
0.01
0.00
0.00
0.23