Train accident risk
Car travel 21 times more dangerous as rail industry records 11th consecutive year without any passenger fatalities.
BRITAIN’S railways have recorded their 11th consecutive year without any workforce or passenger fatalities, according to the RSSB’s Rail Annual Safety Performance report published on July 12.
The RSSB figures suggest that bus or coach travel is three times more dangerous than rail, car travel 21 times, bicycles almost 350 times, and motorcycles almost 1,400 times.
Enhancing rail’s safety record is a decrease in the number of accidents that did not cause harm but which could have done under different circumstances. RSSB says improved data collection and analysis techniques have enabled the rail industry to target safety intervention where it is most needed, leading to a risk reduction of 26% at level crossings and 11% for derailments since 2014. And the risks posed by signals passed at danger (SPADs) now stands at a third of 2006 levels.
The number of workforce injuries on or about the running line fell from 9.5 fatalities and weighted physical injuries (FWPI, a standard measure of risk used by the RSSB - see panel) in the previous year to eight in 2017-18, the second lowest figure in the last decade.
Similarly, the number of incidents at the platform-train interface fell from 6.8 to 6.1 in 2017-18 for passengers boarding or alighting, although it increased by 1.3 to 5.6 for those not boarding or alighting.
However, while many safety indicators have improved, the number of assaults on passengers and the public have increased from 4,526 in 2016-17 to 5,871 in 2017/18. A survey of 700 staff suggested that 94% have experienced workplace abuse in the past year, with 30% of them receiving abuse directed at them daily.
The number of deaths from trespass and suspected suicide also increased from 263 in 2016-17 to 284 in 2017-18 (although this is less than the ten-year high of 314, recorded in 2014-15).
RSSB Director of System Safety, Health and Wellbeing George Bearfield said: “Rail remains one of
the very safest forms of transport, a position supported by our analysis of the safety data from across the national rail network in the last year. In particular, in those areas where industry is working together with sustained focus - such as train accidents and level crossings - real, measurable improvements continue to be seen.
“No one is complacent, and the industry is already mobilising to address those areas where we haven’t seen similar success - such as trespass, assaults and abuse.
“Rail has a proven blueprint for successful, collaborative, risk management, and emerging technology - such as monitoring systems and wearables - is also providing opportunities for improvement and showing some early signs of success.”