Railway group - letter from the Chair

Dear Railway Group member, 

We have been fortunate to co-opt new members to the committee. Nick Millington from Network Rail and Greg Morse from RSSB both bring experience in critical areas which impact upon safety in the rail industry. First, I will introduce, and handover (literally) to Dr Greg Morse. 

I’ve always thought railways were about families. Sometimes it’s literally true: I joined late in 2005 but my great uncle was a stationmaster in the 1920s and both my grandfathers were ‘inside’. Inside? No, they hadn’t been up before the beak for grand larceny, but it’s what we used to say in Swindon of anyone who worked in the railway works. It comes from the huge outer walls that used to separate the factory from the town, and from the fact that – during the early part of the last century, at least – there was very little else you could do in the town. But now the ‘Castle’ and ‘King’ class locomotives of yesterday have breathed their last and electrification has come to Brunel’s main line out of Paddington. The raising of the wires occurred during my own time in the industry, but many of you will have seen change, with many more to see the changes that will come. Throughout all this, our industry’s purpose of getting people and goods where they need to be, when they need to be there, will remain. It is down to us to help that to be achieved safely. I tend to do that at RSSB by telling stories of past accidents and by checking the middle distance to see what might develop into a trend. But through the Railway Group Committee we are aspiring, together, to do more. 

Features 

Greg first feature article for Rail Professional and IOSH on ‘corporate memory’, IOSH remembering-to-remember in Rail Pro May 22 P31 or perhaps I should say corporate ‘amnesia’! Vice Chair, Russell Keir will have his feature on Entities in Charge of Maintenance (ECM) in July and link will follow on this subject. Both articles provide interesting and informative reading. 

The Risk Management Maturity Model (RM3) 

The ORR RM3 on-line training on 30th June 2022. ORR media webpage

I am pleased to have worked with the ORR and industry leaders to develop the training. The ORR has made the RM3 the introductory training module widely accessible to the rail industry through. We look forward to supporting the industry in the drive for excellence in safety management. I recommend this freely available training module to you. If you would like any support with RM3, or would like to facilitate a visit, the committee will look forward to sharing our experience with you. Our RM3 survey will follow 

Looking ahead... 

We welcome any suggestions for topical subjects as we are planning our speakers for early 2023. If your organisation wishes to collaborate, provide speakers or potential sponsorship opportunities, please let us know via our Network Networks@iosh.com 

Kind Regards,

Ed Hodson 

Disclaimer: The information and opinions expressed on this webpage are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).