The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has published their annual report of health and safety on Britain’s railways, revealing that although the rail sector has seen an almost 40% reduction in near misses over the past 12 months between workers and trains, the year had also seen an increase in workforce fatalities.
Ian Prosser, Director of Railway Safety at the ORR, noted in his Chief Inspector’s review in the report that track worker and depot worker safety was one of the three main challenges facing the rail industry. With two track workers being struck and fatally injured on the mainline network by trains while a Network Rail worker died in a machinery incident. He noted that these fatalities highlight the importance of planning work to avoid activity on live tracks and developing and implementing systems of work that provide improved protection and warning. He goes on to add that these deaths emphasise the importance of improving the safety culture in frontline teams.
It is expected the adoption of technology will increase to improve the spotting of trains, giving workers more time to safely evacuate the track in the event of an oncoming train. Ian adds: “removing the need to routinely work with lookout protection needs to be done in such a way that a permanent way can be maintained safely and without transferring the risk elsewhere”. Although near misses declined significantly, close calls have risen, often relating to line blockage and possession irregularities.
The report also analyses the rail industries response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which it credits for being fast and decisive – responding extremely well and collaboratively to the challenges posed by the pandemic. This helped keep freight and those who needed to travel moving.
