Railway safety: someone once asked 'are the lunatics running the asylum'?

This paper provides experience of safety risk management, safety cases, and approvals processes appertaining to railway rolling stock introduction and operation in the UK, and more recently in Australia. The paper initially provides the context by presenting an overview of UK Railway, outlining its structure, the organisations involved, and the safety approvals processes created in the years since privatisation. An appropriate Safety Approval Process can and should add value to all railway projects, including Rolling Stock delivery. Further, the contractual imperative to apply the same diligence, and project management skills to this aspect of contract delivery as to the manufacture of the hardware is highlighted. The content of a Safety Case, and the concept of ALARP for Safety and Risk Management are then discussed. ASINZS 4360 and AS 4292.1 are shown to already allude to the ALARP principle, and the continued confusion in its application discussed. The concept of absolute safety is then discussed, and then discredited through the exploration of a rail accident near Selby in the UK. The paper then draws conclusions that might assist in ensuring the Safety Approvals Process delivers the required levels of safety within an appropriate timeframe and cost to all the Stakeholders, and that that process itself does not become an inhibitor to 'Rail Achieving Growth'. Colloquially, how can the Australian Railway Industry avoid commencing a journey towards a future point in time whereby the lunatics are running your asylum?

• Record URL:
  • http://railknowledgebank.com/Presto/content/Detail.aspx?q=KFBhcGVyLlRpdGxlOihzb21lb25lIG9uY2UgYXNrZWQpKQ==&ctID=MTk4MTRjNDUtNWQ0My00OTBmLTllYWUtZWFjM2U2OTE0ZDY3&rID=MTYxMA==&qcf=MTk4MTRjNDUtNWQ0My00OTBmLTllYWUtZWFjM2U2OTE0ZDY3&ph=VHJ1ZQ==&bckToL=VHJ1ZQ==&
• Authors:
  • Mash I
• Conference:
  • CORE 2006, Conference on Railway Engineering, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 30 April-3 May 2006
• Publication Date: 2006

Media Info

• Pagination: pp. 369-375
• Monograph Title: Rail achieving growth: CORE 2006: conference on railway engineering, 30 April-3 May 2006, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Railroad transportation; Risk management; Safety
• ATRI Terms: Rail transport; Risk management; Safety
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01517177
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 4 2014 8:11PM