Policy railway

Switzerland presently follows the traffic policy of shifting transport by heavy trucks on roads to railway transport. Towards this goal, the capacity of the main traffic axis (N S) is now being greatly expanded by the AlpTransit project. The key elements of this project are the two railway base tunnels the Lotschberg tunnel in the west and the Gotthard tunnel in the east (see Fig. 7). The rock overburden can reach 2.5 km, and the lengths are considerable 57 km... 

Victory in 1918 came more quickly than expected. On 25 July, one week after the last German offensive had been halted, Wilson produced a major paper on military policy in which he advocated a series of operations with limited objectives designed to push the Germans back from various strategic points, such as the Amiens railway junction. However, he thought that preparations for a decisive effort by the Allies should be planned for not later than 1st July 1919 . ° By 3 September... 

It has often been suggested that industrialization proceeded in three revolutionary waves. The first one started in Britain in the 1760s and was characterized by the introduction of mechanized, power-driven textile machines. Between 1800 and 1830, the British industrial revolution was fuelled by the development of railways, steamships, the factory system and a liberal economic policy. At the same time, these processes of industrialization spread to some other European countries and North America. 

M. Lodge (2002) The Wrong Type of Regulation Regulatory Failure and the Railways in Britain and Germany, Journal of Public Policy, 22/3 271-297. 

The remit of these inquiries is controversial. Neither inquiry considered the wider pressures upon the railway industry, in particular government policy towards the railway... 

It was certainly the case that national union officials expected safety representatives to know the name of their local railway employment inspector and his telephone number. Indeed, one expected them to know him personally. This was partly because information about railway employment inspectors was contained in local policy documents and partly because these officials expected railway employment inspectors to keep safety representatives informed of their visits. 

The social dimensions of knowledge and understanding were striking. Senior railway personnel had the most contact with the Railway Inspectorate but this is partly an artefact of organization. Inspecting officers and senior railway officials were both in charge of policy decisions, decisions about capital expenditure, and a much wider remit than occupational health and safety, and moreover they were few in number. Railway employment inspectors, whose remit solely centred on occupational health and safety, were only fifteen in number and had to cover the entire rail network. It is therefore not surprising that they were not... 

The Policy of the British Railways Board in respect of safety is to conduct its affairs so as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of... 

To a large extent these expectations were confirmed by my findings, although the extent of knowledge held by safety representatives was overestimated by respondents. It was, of course, interesting that there was an expectation that employees would not know the railway s policies for the health and safety of the workforce. Why this was so was partly revealed later by examining the views expressed about the existing policies. But let us now consider how the responses of BR staff compared with the hopes and expectations of the seven directors and four departmental safety officers. 

Safety managers were divided over what they expected staff to be aware of. Two thought that staff would know the policies and rules, the other two were less confident and believed it unlikely that staff would know the policies. One thought that whereas staff might know the policies and rule book when they joined the railways, they probably did not know them any longer. He stressed the importance of refresher courses which were mentioned as important in this context by three of the four safety managers. 

Communication emerged as a key issue. The clear majority of those interviewed felt that polices should be directed to and accessible to everyone. But difficulties in this area were identified. The accessibility of documentary sources was particularly criticized. One respondent explained the policies are well intentioned but not aimed at the right level for the majority of people that work on the railway (worker, interviewee 47). Specific problems were seen to be the amount of the written material available and the way in which it was written. There was perceived to be too much paperwork which was difficult to understand, uninteresting, and unreasonable. This reiterates the literature on the law, where clarity emerges as a key factor in encouraging compliance (see Ch. 5). Directors and specialist health and safety staff were aware of the difficulties ... 

Generally BR appeared to have complied with the risk management systems demanded by occupational health and safety legislation. It had instituted the structures, procedures, and policies expected in law. Moreover the systems they had in place had been particularly scrutinized following a number of high profile accidents, two of them involving railways, one involving BR. But at the time of... 

The second major problem identified with the policies was that of their enforcement. The interviews revealed that the checks that the policies and rules were adhered to were not universally implemented. Indeed it was very clear that knowledge of the health and safety systems in place was patchy. There was also some uncertainty about who was responsible for health and safety on the railways, especially among the workforce. Managers were much more aware of specialized health and safety personnel than the rest of the staff and obviously found their presence reassuring and helpful. Indeed, board-level and departmental-level staff were better known than they personally expected. 

When public policy is to attract travellers off roads, the safety of rail travel must be firmly based on robust and impartial regulatory systems. This is particularly important when the fragmentation of the railway has led to a host of new companies, contractors, sub-contractors and individuals working on the railway, some of whom have little or no railway experience, (quoted in Uff, 2000 169)... 

Questions about the influence that the law can have in managing risks in modern society have been considered in this research through an in-depth study of occupational health and safety on the railways. It is a study of one company in one industry in one country at one moment in time. But it offers us a partial glimpse into other areas of social and economic life. It also raises important issues about the influence of risk in our lives and the possibilities of controlling corporate deviance. In this chapter I will draw together the main conclusions arising from the empirical study and consider the theoretical and policy implications arising from these. 

Statement of Safety Policy, London British Railways Board. 

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has a responsibility to lead and develop long term safety strategy and policy for the UK mainline railway network. One of the key objectives of the strategy is to reduce risk on the railway network by controlling the hazardous events and the precursors to the hazardous events that can occur. It is essential, however, that the control of the risk is carried out in an open and explicit manner, so that end users in the industry can be assured the controls imposed are effective and do not cost disproportionately more than the benefits they provide. 

RSSB has a responsibility to lead and develop long term safety strategy and policy for the UK mainline railway network. 

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) was established on 1 April 2003 as a not-for-profit company owned by the railway industry. Our role is to provide leadership in the development of the long term safety strategy and policy for the UK railway. The company is limited by guarantee and has a members council, a board and an advisory committee. It is independent of any single railway company and of their commercial interests. 

In addition, the research programme is investigating policy issues in safety management and the governance of the railway industry. It is these policy issues that are the subject of this paper. 

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