Railway Safety in a Period of change – public version

Tuesday, 27th September 2022 at 6:30pm

For a copy of the slides from the webinar please click here.

Although SaRS webinar recordings are normally reserved for SaRS members, on this occasion the recording has been made publicly available for all to be able view and for you to share with your colleagues as appropriate. To facilitate making this public the chat and audience names have been blurred out.

This was a joint face to face lecture/online webinar presented by the University of Huddersfield and the Safety and Reliability Society.

The railway in Great Britain is going through a once in a generation period of change. The Williams-Shapps report sets out ambitious objectives to make railways the backbone of a cleaner, fairer, more environmentally friendly and modern public transport system.

The railway is a unique industry. It is an open system that transports huge volumes of people every day safely, efficiently and sustainably. But the potential for a major accident is ever present and must be guarded against with eternal vigilance. The travelling public’s confidence can be lost at any time and this presents an existential threat to rail as was demonstrated by the collapse of Railtrack in the aftermath of the rail accidents at Hatfield, Potters Bar and Ladbroke Grove.

The lecture covers:

• What previous railway set ups, and the rail accidents of the time, have taught us about how to deliver world class health and safety.

• The natural strengths and weaknesses in adherance to the safety principles in a national railway administration.

• The tensions that will inevitably become manifest as the railway goes through transformation, and what can be learnt from other sectors.

• Changing expectations, accountabilities, technology and culture in the GB Rail industry and the new challenges and opportunities they create for the reform agenda.

Our presenter for the lecture is George Bearfield who is the Professor of Railway System Safety at the University of Huddersfield, Institute of Rail Research. He has worked in the GB Railway industry for over 25 years and has held a number of senior roles in railway system safety management and assurance.