The UK’s Rail Safety and Standards Board is bringing its skillset to Australia to support the development of the industry.
The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) was established in 2003 in the United Kingdom. This was based on key recommendations from Lord Cullen’s public inquiry into the Ladbroke Grove rail accident in which improvements to the framework around safety were recommended.
The Southall and Ladbroke Grove train crashes, in September 1997 and October 1999 respectively, led to the deaths of 38 people as well as 100s of injuries, which in turn led to three separate public inquiry reports: one for each crash and a report on Automatic Train Protection.
The inquiries took a fundamental look at the generic issues surrounding safety in the British Railway Industry. A principal conclusion focused on the improvement of safety management and specifically safety culture.
The inquiry stated that “achievement of an improved safety culture on the railways is at the core of the whole programme of change initiated by Lord Cullen’s Inquiries … if an organisation has the right culture in place, it will find the right people and the right technology to deliver safe and effective performance.…the need for a positive safety culture is the most fundamental thought before the inquiry”.
The reports resulted in 295 recommendations, setting “a necessary and challenging criteria to change the state of the railways”.
A section of the recommendations fell under the title ‘Culture, Safety Leadership and Health and Safety Management’, which presented 25 recommendations relating to the internal structures of companies, safety culture, and the management of health and safety.
The recommendations were aimed at securing improvements in the following areas:
- safety auditing processes;
- fault reporting and maintenance;
- risk assessment;
- application of a railway safety case regime; and
- safety leadership and communication in companies.
Since 2003, RSSB has been helping its members keep the UK moving with safer, smarter rail. Its core purpose is to support industry, so that it can achieve better results.
It offers services and resources that capture and share standards and best practice, with rail organisations and other industries in Britain and abroad.
More than standards
RSSB’s remit is bigger than standards. It promotes industry safety, research and development, monitors and reports on safety performance, and provide guidance and good practice.
It has developed the common standards that allow the UK’s diverse network to function as a single system. It leads cross-industry strategies, like Leading Health and Safety on Britain’s Railways, the Rail Standards Strategy and the Sustainable Rail Blueprint. There are also cross-industry working groups and committees on subjects from mental wellbeing to driver advisory systems.
The organisation’s research has allowed existing and new vehicles to operate at different speeds on the same track, optimising journey times and maximising route capacity. The revised standards for AC electrification have the potential to save AUD$1.05 billion if all the 13,000 single-track kilometres in the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy are electrified. This is mainly by reducing costs in the design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure.
RSSB’s insights and analysis have helped put rail at the cutting edge of health and wellbeing practice in the country. It has started a programme to gather consistent sustainability-related data from across the industry, and its rule book ensures industry knowledge is reliably applied on the front line.
RSSB is enabling more radical changes too. It is enhancing its data science abilities with new datasets, like weather data, to help model how the changing climate will affect rail’s fixed assets. RSSB has access to more data than any other rail organisation, and is working with academia to lay the groundwork for blue-sky innovations.
Asia Pacific region
RSSB is looking to bring its experience and knowledge to the Asia Pacific. The organisation receives its greatest number of global enquiries from Asia. It also recognised the connection between the region and the UK’s rail network, making the sharing of knowledge and ideas simpler.
Every day its specialists work to solve the safety challenges faced by rail operators, infrastructure partners and suppliers. Its expertise is hands-on, current and cutting-edge, covering a variety of topics from risk management and operational safety to human factors and system thinking.
Some of the projects the organisation has worked on in the APAC region include:
- PTA Western Australia: Ballast Depth and Sleeper Spacing Review, delivered in 2021/22.
- MTR Hong Kong: Training on derailment and wheel-rail interface, delivered in 2021/22.
- MTR Hong Kong: Training on understanding the investigation process and techniques for derailment, delivered in 2021/22.
- MTR Hong Kong: Benchmarking consultancy support, delivered 2021-2023.
- NTC Australia: Consultancy support on rail interoperability, current project.
Consultancy
RSSB makes its experts available on a project-to-project basis, to help organisations answer technical questions that are critical to its success.
RSSB advise on reducing system risk and supporting safe and effective operations, improving operational safety by helping design, and co-ordinate railway operations safely and efficiently.
The company helps guide an organisation in the best practice of taking safe, defensible decisions by providing toolkits, insights and resources built on two decades of safety research and analysis. It also provides knowledge, tools and techniques to optimise human performance in the workplace, as well as resources and guidance on helping people manage fatigue and remain alert.
Then there are its mental health support with tools, training and resources to help manage and prevent mental ill-health.
It can work with companies on effective approaches to understanding and working with complex rail systems.
All of these consulting tools ensure RSSB provides the required information for its partners to ensure success.
Training
RSSB training is tailored to the specific needs of organisations with an interest in rail. The courses are created and delivered by some of the world’s leading rail experts. Most have been adapted for remote delivery, offering international organisations greater access and flexibility.
The courses are designed and delivered by leaders in their field and updated regularly to reflect the everchanging environment of the rail sector. RSSB’s courses blend practical application with academic theory. This enables delegates to gain knowledge and learn skills they can apply immediately at work and make a positive impact on businesses.
The Accident Investigation Training course is informed by RIS-3119-TOM, the Rail Industry Standard (RIS) for Accident and Incident Investigation. This RIS sets out the requirements to fulfil legal obligations for investigations involving more than one duty holder. This is so system improvements necessary to prevent or reduce the likelihood of recurrence, or mitigate the consequences, are identified and implemented.
The Mental Wellbeing for Line Managers training course was developed through rail industry research on effective mental health training for line managers. It has been designed by rail industry clinical psychologists and covers psychosocial risk factors experienced by the workforce, grounded in rail specific content.
RSSB’s G-FORCE model supports rail personnel to make rational decisions when under pressure or when they are faced with unfamiliar or unusual situations. It works by taking the user through a rational decision-making framework, helping them come to a logical decision. RSSB uses past real-life examples of incidents across the rail network to discuss with delegates and discuss outcomes that would fit the G-FORCE model.
It has experts not just from the rail industry, but those with experience in related industries such as aviation, transport, oil and gas to name a few, bringing a wider perspective to delegates and facilitating cross-sharing.
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