Railtalk
A WORRYING REPORT FROM RAIB
Network Rail’s previous Chief Executive, Mark Carne, came from the oil industry. He had been with Shell at the time of the Piper Alpha North Sea oil rig tragedy and, as with British Rail signal engineers after the Clapham accident, the experience had left its mark.
Mr Carne found the railway approach to track worker safety lacking in some respects. His five years in the job were characterised by what he termed ‘a relentless commitment to safety, and getting everyone home safe, every day, whether employees, passengers or the public’.
To emphasise the policy, site safety procedures were introduced across the company offices, from safety briefings when you signed in at reception to notices advising on how to cross Eversholt Street safely. We recall an occasion when, having walked to a Network Rail regional office from the station by way of crossing a busy road at traffic lights, our guide was advised by a Network Rail colleague that we had failed to use the official safe walking route from the station.
During Mr Carne’s tenure, the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate, the key safety indicator for track workers, including contractors’ labour, fell by a third from 0.585 per 1…
