International Railway Safety Conference 2008 A regulator’s challenge – inspecting the right things Allan Spence HM Deputy Chief Inspector (Operations) Office of Rail Regulation Denver, October 2008

1 Office of Rail Regulation Independent safety and economic regulator for Britain’s railways Long-term vision for a safe, high-performing and efficient railway HM Railway Inspectorate is the part of ORR that deals with health and safety Inspectors gather intelligence that can inform economic regulation too Economic efficiency and effective safety management are entirely complementary

2 ORR’s role in safety regulation 140 operational staff in 21 offices covering mainline, metros, tramways and heritage railways. Authorising, inspecting, investigating, enforcing Public and employee protection HM Railway Inspectorate changed markedly in 10 years Move away from prior approval to more structured inspection regime of management systems Testing risk management not fragmented site-specific spot checks External scrutiny? Rail Accident Investigation Branch

3 Safe railway operators? Authorising Safety Management Systems  Assess the written documents  Challenge  Clear process, trained inspectors, peer review Proactive inspection to test compliance Inspection occupies half of all our frontline activity:  50% to Network Rail  25% to (30+) train operators  25% to light rail, contractors, heritage

4 Why do we inspect? Test legal compliance Validate the Safety Management System Meet public expectations Deterrence Motivate improvement Ensure equity between duty-holders Identify and spread good/best practice Inform and advise Gather intelligence about:  current risk management  emerging risks  economic efficiency

5 Making inspection effective Prioritise and structure inspection work Inspecting practical safety and a slice through the management system Want re-assurance about the management system:  standards, processes, organisation, resources, competence, supervision and monitoring Reliably delivering effective risk control - not just when we look, but all the time? National planning for consistency and effectiveness Avoid simply reacting to the last accident

6 What to inspect? Risk profile topic strategies Ensure correct priorities Transparency on why we don’t do things too Long term view from data and qualitative intelligence Set the direction for 3 to 5 years Used along with dutyholder-specific factors Long list from safety risk model grouped into 14 topic areas

7 Risk Profile Topics Employee Safety Health and Safety Management Systems and Risk Assessment Human Factors Level Crossings Occupational Health Power Supplies Railway Operations Rolling Stock Route Crime Vehicle and Animal Incursions Signalling and Telecoms (Command, Control & Signalling) Stations Structures Track

8 The top four Employee Safety Command Control Signalling (CoCoSig) Level Crossings Track (including switches and crossings)

9 Structured inspection assignments Network-wide appraisal Systemic or common weaknesses Patterns in low-level non-compliance? Deal with precursors before risks are realised Track patrolling example:  S & C maintenance is a priority topic  Grayrigg derailment Feb 2007  Industry investigation concluded a local problem  Structured inspection across all area teams to check

10 Track patrolling example Numerous but small deficiencies in all areas Each on its own ‘insignificant’  only a small increased risk that patrolling would fail to identify a critical track defect No one area had major failings  insufficient to warrant us taking more formal action locally But national inspection program gave a strategic view  If a number of deficiencies occurred in the same place, at the same time, the increased risk would be significant So, no evidence of systematic failure in any one location but consequence of them aligning in one place again created a significant risk Enforcement notice for national improvement

11 Conclusion Significant aid to strategic planning The right things to inspect Structured inspections to provide best picture Better placed for overall appraisal of risk control Better placed to take regulatory action

Thank you Allan Spence HM Deputy Chief Inspector (Operations)