On 26th June – the first day of Rail Safety Week – our MD George Bearfield had the pleasure of giving the final presentation at Network Rail North West and Central ’s Safety and Engineering conference.
The presentation was on the importance of taking a risk-based approach to managing safety risk. George highlighted the UK’s enlightened and proven approach to risk-based safety management enshrined in the Health and Safety at Work Act. UK rail has, for the last 20 years, achieved improving and world class levels of rail safety performance through the use of an objective and mathematically rigorous approach to risk modelling and prioritisation of investment. He explained how this was exemplified by Network Rail’s level crossing strategy, where a risk model, fed with real local data, has been used strategically to drive a steady improvement in risk over the long term. He finished the presentation by highlighting that the expansion of this approach would be essential to ensure that available rail funding was effectively targeted in CP7 and beyond. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide the opportunity to further develop and expand targeted risk modelling and decision support, but in doing so the industry must be careful not to create new risks, related to software safety and cyber security.
George’s presentation followed a fireside Q and A between NW&Cs Director of Safety and Engineering, Kamini Edgley, and Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines in what was a wide ranging and informative conference.
