“Britain’s railways are the safest they have ever been, but there is still room for improvement” is ORR’s key message within its annual report on railway health and safety .
The past year saw further improvements in the leadership of safety across the railway industry and for the first time ever there were no fatalities of any railway worker. However, ORR’s inspectors found that safety rules and procedures were not always implemented consistently.
ORR’s Annual Health and Safety Report of Performance on Britain’s Railways: 2015-16 highlights:
ORR’s Director of Railway Safety and HM Chief Inspector, Ian Prosser, said: “A decade of sustained investment and a shared commitment from industry leaders, managers, workers, unions and governments has dramatically improved health and safety on Britain’s railways. It is a significant achievement to be rated as the safest railway in Europe, but it’s vital no one becomes complacent.
“Our evidence highlights key challenges facing the rail industry. In particular, the need to ensure that safety arrangements set by railway leadership are implemented consistently, as well as managing the safety risks from rising passenger numbers.
“We need to see further evidence of industry improvement here. The safety of all those who use or work on Britain’s railways is our top priority. We will continue to play our part in holding Network Rail, London Underground, and the train operators to account for delivering an ever safer railway.”
Download the report here.
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The article said:
This has identified 12 priority areas requiring attention such as such as worker health and wellbeing, fatigue management and station operations.
•Safety at level crossings continues to improve, however standards are not yet applied consistently enough. There were still three incidents in which pedestrians were killed. ORR is scrutinising Network Rail’s programme of work to improve safety management at level crossings.
•While for the first year ever there were no fatalities of any railway worker there was still loss of life and injury in stations. ORR is pressing the industry to increase its focus on safety for people using stations
The report said:
Mainline passenger and public fatalities in 2015-16 3.10 A total of 45 passengers and members of the public were killed on the mainline railway in 2015-16, the same as in 2014-15 and the third-lowest total for 10 years. These included 37 members of the public of whom 30 were trespassing, three were pedestrians at level crossings, two members of the public who fell and were killed on railway infrastructure, and eight passengers and two members of the public fatalities at or near stations, up four compared to 2014-15. There were no worker fatalities for the first time since reliable records began.
3.11 There were eight passenger fatalities – a high number and the highest since 200607. None were industry-caused and all occurred at stations:
a passenger fell on to the track from the station platform and caused fatal injuries with no train present;
a passenger fell on to the track and was then struck and killed by a train;
a passenger fell on to the track and was electrocuted by the third-rail;
two passengers fell between the platform-train interface, but not during boarding or alighting incidents;
one passenger was murdered and another died in a violent assault, both at stations; and
a passenger was struck and killed by a road sign blown off in high winds.
3.12 In addition, two members of the public were killed at stations: one was a teenage girl involved in her mother’s suicide and the second, a member of the public, who fell from the platform on to the track and was struck and killed by a passing train.
However:
1.13 This year saw a 12% reduction, to 252, in suicides and suspected suicides
Note the “suspected”!
A hastily withdrawn official report some years ago admitted that in fact suicides were less than half the total of “suicides and trespassers”.
Compare that with the roads where 85% of pedestrian deaths are down to the suicidal actions of the pedestrian, and where there would be almost no pedestrian deaths if they complied with the law on obstructing the Highway, the various Highway and Traffic Acts, and the Pedestrians section of the Highway code, the Rules of which might not all be “Laws” in themselves, but which give examples of ways in which you could be in breach of “The Law”.
But I digress, even if all 300 or so pedestrian deaths were suicides who were trespassing, would that make them acceptable?
Would anyone accept the excuse from a car or truck driver that the pedestrian was acting suicidally, so it was OK to pulverise them, never mind that they were going too fast to stop anyway, oh, and their brakes weren’t up to much, and their steering was non existent?!
And how does 300 deaths on around 11,000 miles of rail road with probably only around a thousand drivers stack up against the pedestrian deaths on the ordinary roads with 30 million drivers doing hundreds of billions of miles on around a third of a million miles of road?!
How about the rail roads took on board “Twenty’s Plenty, Speed Kills, kill Your Speed, Not That Child, You Know It Makes Sense, If It Saves Just ONE Life!” wherever they KNOW there is an increased risk of pedestrians on the line, such as by overcrowded platforms, on busy level crossings, and anywhere where RAIL Roads really do “Divide Communities!”, and those communities might be tempted to “Reclaim The RAIL Roads!” with an unofficial crossing.
After all, Rail lobby groups like Transport 2000/Campaign For Better Transport probably coined all those snappy safety soundbites!
Is my comment still awaiting moderation or does someone not want the truth revealed?!
I have just approved this. Sorry for the delay.
Thanks