Railway Inspectorate objectives

The Railway Inspectorate Regulatory Objectives and the Social Dimensions of Knowledge... 

The organization of the Railway Inspectorate has changed quite considerably since this research and consequently there has been a shift in objectives. This is reflected, for example, in their use of legal action (see below). The purpose of this chapter, however, is to concentrate on the research period. More recent developments are discussed in Chapter 11. 

The Inspectorate s mobilization of resources therefore emphasized the importance of the objectives of prevention of non-compliance and the constitution of everyday compliance. This was especially the case for railway employment inspectors whose remit was, of coiurse, largely concerned with occupational health and safety. Accident investigation could take up substantial amounts of time especially if there had been a high profile accident involving the public. But this tended to be the concern of inspecting officers and was, as history would suggest, very much a public safety concern and not so much a matter of occupational health and safety. Overall therefore the Railway Inspectorate s objectives, as revealed in their mobUization of resources, were in line with the apparent legal objectives. 

The Inspectorate s regulatory objectives were therefore to effect a long-term, compliant state of affairs , hence their concern to educate and advise so that the reasons for compliance were fully understood. They were concerned with the prevention of offences and the remedy of defects rather than being rule bound. Their objectives were instrumental, to constitute and maintain order, not to search out and punish offenders. Only rarely did the Railway Inspectorate use the legal tools available to them. 

The most significant change in the move to HSE was the increase in the management of us and the increased call on the one hand to account for what we re doing and why—justify ourselves. .. as an Inspectorate. What are its projections What are its objectives, output measures, and how have you achieved them Demonstrate, prove, discuss. .. much greater management pressure to prove you are producing value for money, (railway inspector)... 

In their interactions with the company the Inspectorate appeared to be hierarchical. So although inspectors interacted with the workforce, their negotiations were, in their view necessarily, with management. They did try to talk to safety representatives but with variable success. Indeed they were vitally concerned with the everyday compliance of everyone in the company and they did place much emphasis upon the company s structures for self-regulation (see Ch. 6). What cannot be gleaned from this discussion is whether or not these objectives were understood by those in the industry and whether or not they affected health and safety in the railway industry, so let us now turn our attention to how much was known about the regulatory apparatus put in place by the state to enforce occupational health and safety laws. 

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