The Rail Safety and Standards Board Podcast

This episode was originally published to the RSSB at the Front Line stream in June 2021. It features Nick Millington, Director of the Safety Task Force at Network Rail.  He talks about recent accidents on the mainline railway, and what the task force is doing to reduce open line working.  We talk about the removal of lookouts, night shift working and fatigue, what more possessions will mean for si...

Do you, or your employees, drive or ride a vehicle for work? The HSE's guidance on Driving and riding safely for work tells you what you need to know to comply with current legislation. Nicola Jaynes, HM Inspector of Health and Safety, talks about what the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does, and about its most recent, update to guidance for those who employ people to drive or ride for wor...

Checking that freight vehicles are safe to go onto the rail network is not an easy task. It's work that's often done in difficult conditions, and the consequences of mistakes can be costly. The role of ground staff in freight depots and yards has changed dramatically over recent years. The conditions in which they work, in freight depots and yards where they carry out their vital and oft...

In this episode we talk about lone working, and how it can affect health, wellbeing and personal safety. I talk with Joana Faustino, Senior Work Psychologist at RSSB, and Rachel Rowlinson, Associate Director at Britain Thinks, who has a special interest in health matters in the rail industry.   01:56 About Rachel and her role in the railway.  02:34 Who and what was involved in the research.  03:14...

Fortunately, multiple fatality rail accidents in Britain are rare. But only by learning from the past can we reduce risk in the future. Learning and remembering are vital. Even the lessons from a major accident, like that near Clapham Junction in 1988, can all too soon be forgotten. In this episode we look at the Clapham accident, some of its causes, and how well we have, or haven't, learned...

Would you like to offer your freight customers a more flexible and efficient service? Many freight routes are booked months in advance, but not always used. Or perhaps you need a detour, either to deliver for a customer or because your route is blocked. The hurdles in the way of Very Short-Term Planning can delay approvals until it's too late. This is where the Path Planner tool comes in. In...

HS2 is set to cost the taxpayer £96 billion – 71% more than the 2015 estimate. Is cutting the journey time from London to Birmingham by 30 minutes really worth all that money? According to Ben Rule, Infrastructure Management Director at HS2, the high-speed railway line is an invaluable investment, which will bring much wider benefits to Great Britain and its railways.  00:40 A bit about Ben 01:57...

How can you share your data outputs without revealling how you found them? The Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) protects commercially sensitive and valuable intellectual property, while generating richer answers. In this episode David Golightly and Ken Pierce from Newcastle University talk about the tool, which is creating opportunities for rail. 01:30 About David. 02:02 About Ken. 03:00 The FMI...

In this episode Dave Hatfield and Simon Rodgers talk about the work they are doing to improve the lot of passengers. A pilot project to deliver and respond to real-time data about the environmental conditions inside train carriages. Ultimately, they want to predict issues up to 24 hours before they happen and take remedial action to prevent or minimise them. 01:31 About Simon and the work his comp...

In this episode Patrick Allinson, Operations Control Manager at Great Western Railway, talks about his experience of the G-FORCE Tool. Used in the GWR control centre for nearly 12 months, Patrick talks about his experience and some of the incidents when G-FORCE has been used to speed decision making. 01:39 About Patrick. 02:30 How decision making is handled. 03:49 Who has used the tool and who cou...

In this episode George Davies, Director of Sustainable Development at RSSB, talks about the collaborative work done, and to be done, to deliver the Sustainable Rail Strategy. Both as a document and as a living set of ambitions and actions to achieve a sustainable world. 01:51 Determining the Sustainable Rail Strategy, the need for clear ambitions, and flagship industry goals. 05:26 The technology...

In this episode Chris Lewis, Health, Safety, Security and Environment Change Business Partner at East Midlands Railway, talks about the Driving for Better Business Gap Analysis Tool. We hear how he has used it, its simplicity and strengths, his lessons learned from using it, and how outputs from the tool have helped prioritise actions and widen thinking in planning and decision making.  00:54 Abou...

In this episode Ben Gilmartin talks about the BowTie Method of risk analysis: its history, and his experience of using it. About RSSB's work to broaden understanding of risk by using the method, and to develop BowTie analyses for all the risk areas included in Leading Health and Safety on Britain's Railway. 01:35 About Ben. 02:34 Why and when RSSB started to look at the BowTie Method as...

In this episode Simon Turner, Campaign Manager for Driving for Better Business (DfBB), talks about what DfBB aims to do to help reduce road accidents, injuries and deaths.  One of the tools DfBB has produced is a Gap Analysis Tool. Simon talks about what it can do to help rail industry companies to  identify whether they are meeting legal requirements, and to better manage road driving risk. 00:52...

In this episode Steve Enright, Head of Safety, Security & Sustainability for Abellio Transport Holdings UK, and Chair of the Road Risk Group, talks about the Occupational Road Risk Management Charter and why companies should sign it. He also looks at how companies that don't have vehicle fleets can still be vulnerable to road risk. 01:30 About Steve, his railway career, and his work befor...

In this episode Tavid Dobson, Lead Safety Management Specialist at RSSB and Anne-Marie Penny, Senior Road Safety Policy Adviser at National Highways, talk about how collaboration between their organisations is working to better manage the risk that arises from driving for work. 01:26 About Anne-Marie and how she came to work in road safety. 02:08 About Tavid and how he came to work on road driving...

This episode looks at how the RSSB Horizon Scanning programme has identified issues and helped companies make the best possible decisions around the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. With a vaccination programme well under way, Claire Shooter talks about the support that has been delivered, and how to deal with the uncertainty of the future.   00:46 About Claire and how she puts her previous experi...

In this seventh and final episode about software failures in safety-critical systems, Dr Emma Taylor talks about a number of incidents, from the railway, a medical incident and aircraft.  To encourage you to be creative when you start to think about reasonably foreseeable scenarios—what could possibly go wrong with your complex software-based system.  And what you can do to help design out errors...

In this episode I talk with RSSB's recently appointed Director for Sustainable Development, George Davies, about his vision for a new Rail Sustainability Strategy. He also talks about his plans for how to collaborate with industry colleagues to agree, implement, and communicate the strategy and the progress it achieves. 00:55 The broad scope of sustainability, its definition, and its primary...

In this sixth podcast about software failures in safety-critical systems, Dr Emma Taylor talks about an incident that happened in 2014 during normal working of the National Air Traffic System. We look at what went wrong, and how good recording and documentation at each stage in the V-model allowed a complete shutdown of the air traffic control system for southern England to be quickly reinstated—w...

In this fifth podcast about the impact of software failures on railway asset safety, Dr Emma Taylor talks about the causes behind an accident that happened during testing on a city metro system. Checks from the V-model that should have been applied during the development, testing and implementation of the complex, software-based system. 02:04 Using the V-model to verify and validate the integrity...

In this fourth podcast about the impact of software failures on railway asset safety Dr Emma Taylor talks about the causes of the Cambrian Line Incident. Failures both of the software system and of the processes during development, testing and implementation. Also, about the industry's response to recommendation 3 in the RAIB report on the incident. 01:04 The Cambrian Line Incident described....

In this third podcast about trespass, David Whitmarsh, acting Principal Inspector of Railways for Scotland, talks about the ORR's expectations of the industry when it comes to trespass prevention. He talks about why the ORR might decide to prosecute a railway company rather than the trespasser, and how the level of fines is calculated by the courts. What the ORR would consider to be 'goo...

In this second podcast about trespass, Walt Cartwright, of DB Cargo UK, and Simon Martin, Route Crime Manager at Network Rail, talk about the practical sides of assessing trespass risk and putting prevention measures in place. Walt talks about the benefits of the new guide and the consistency it can bring to understanding how to assess trespass risk. How it will increase understanding of how to ju...

In this episode Dr Emma Taylor talks about the 'NIS Regulations', what they mean for the industry and about what the industry needs to do to comply with the regulations. She looks at who should be concerned, and what we need to do to demonstrate compliance and avoid fines of up to £17m. What to do until we have a good body of precursors to digital incidents; and what aspects of operation...