Learning from the past to prevent accidents on the railway today

Research from the University of Portsmouth has been used to inform the publication of a new safety digest to help prevent accidents to railway staff working on or about the track.

A major train accident at Clapham occurred on 12 December 1988. Clapham was a long time ago – but still within living memory for many. Official reports into accidents like Clapham, and the work of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, mean there is plenty of information about operational accidents and incidents. These provide a rich learning source for anyone working in this area.

However, there is much less information available on personal accidents to those working on or about  railway tracks. 

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has produced the Track Worker Safety Digest to redress that balance. It’s the result of a joint workshop between the Infrastructure Safety Leadership Group (ISLG), chaired by Stuart Webster Spriggs of VolkerRail, and the Railway Work Life and Death (RWLD) project, led by Dr Mike Esbester, Principal Lecturer in History at the University of Portsmouth.

Throughout the document, various accidents from the RWLD archive are presented, with clear lines drawn to more recent incidents that reflect areas of current concern, so that lessons can be learned from the past to prevent accidents today.

Dr Esbester said: “Myself and 10 key safety leaders from within the industry worked through a number of case studies, working out what happened, whether similar things could happen now, and how best to prevent accidents like these from happening again. It was great to see how seriously these safety leaders took it, and their dedication and commitment to improving health and safety now.

“This is more than simply history - it's an active intervention in the present, using the past to better understand work and working practices today. There aren't any quick wins, but hopefully this safety digest will contribute to fewer worker incidents.”
ISLG chair Stuart Webster-Spriggs said: “Learning from the past is a fundamental aspect of ensuring continual improvement and the prevention of accidents and incidents in the same vein.”

RSSB’s Greg Morse added: “So many of the incidents in this digest resonate with the modern railway. They prove that remembering the past helps us build competence and compliance, keeping us safer both today and tomorrow.” 

The 'Railway Work, Life & Death' project is a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick. The project researches accidents involving British and Irish railway staff that occurred before 1939. Working with the current industry to try to use the past to make a difference today is an important part of the project’s work.