“Staff are key”
Frontline staff hold the key to the good performance that drives UK’s rail safety record, says Director of Railway Safety.
“IT’S very important that the main line railway realises that performance is critical to delivering a safe railway,” Chief Inspector of Railways and Director of Railway Safety CBE Ian Prosser has told RAIL.
Prosser said he is concerned about issues that are emerging around performance that will have an impact on safety. He pointed to the more congested and pressurised railway we now have that means more people are on our station platforms, leading to an increase in harm to the public from slips, trips and falls as well as other more serious incidents.
He was speaking to RAIL at the launch of the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR’s) Annual Health and Safety report on July 17, which reveals that while there has been continuous improvement in most areas of safety, main line public harm is at its highest since 201112, with 44 fatalities in 2017-18 (including 36 trespass deaths, six at level crossings and two others) compared with 34 the previous year.
Prosser said that trespass (particularly child trespass) is a growing issue (see graph) - not just for safety, but also for performance.
“We have to get a betterperforming railway. More money going into renewals will help, but it is not the only answer. On the operational side we need to improve how we manage disturbances, reactive delays and issues like that, which are all going up.
“We have to understand the congested railway, and the fact that we have a railway that was not built for the sort of frequency of trains that we have today. It’s not a metro railway, and that’s what we’re trying to make it in many places.”
While main line public harm has increased, the level of train accident risk on the main line is now at one of its historically lowest levels (see graph), primarily owing to an improvement in track and level crossing assets - including the installation of new technology to prevent accidents at crossings.
Prosser said there has also been an improvement in asset data and asset management capability more widely, which had been very specific targets set to Network Rail in Periodic Review 2013 (PR13). He explained that this is one of the benefits of a joined-up economic and safety regulator.
“Network Rail has been on an ever-improving journey of both its asset management and asset data, but this is one key area where the joined-up regulator has worked and the influence of the safety regulator in PR13 was quite critical, because we could see where the issues were. Getting NR to have an improvement plan for those key areas has been really important and one of the success stories of CP5 [Control Period 5].
“If you look at NR’s performance in terms of asset failures, which are now at an all-time low, it demonstrates that if you improve your assets, you improve safety and improve performance.”
With recent performance issues on the network, Prosser is concerned about the connection between frontline staff and senior management, and the knock-on effect this has to safety.
“It’s really come home to me while doing my own inspections and travelling around the network, talking to staff, that there’s a real message for the industry to make sure it connects with its people,” he said.
He feels that with changing franchises and increasing pressure
“Staff are the most key component of the system.” Ian Prosser CBE, Chief Inspector of Railways and Director of Railway Safety
on staff, it is important to recognise that the long-term health and wellbeing of railway staff is important, both physically and mentally.
“A strong driver for this could be improving health considerations, because it makes people feel that you actually care. Staff are the most key component of the system. They make a lot of frontline safety-critical decisions that keep the railway safe. They interface with passengers, sometimes those who are not particularly enamoured with the performance of the railway.
“I have seen first-hand very difficult situations being dealt with highly professionally by frontline staff. I’ve seen some really good examples in the last few weeks of that happening, where there has been overcrowding caused by the disruption that we’ve had.
“I’m really going to push this now for the next few years - managing people’s health both from a physical and mental point of view. We have to get people to feel that the management cares.
“With the fragmented industry that we have, and with the turnover of franchises, we need to work out how we make that connection work effectively. Senior management need to be on the frontline much more. We need to be seen. Frontline staff take it all. The passion people have for working on the railway and trying to deliver a good service for customers is unquestionable.”