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SAFETY
Rail Safety Week (RSW) Lead Elaine Clark and Steering Group Chair Simon Higgens MBE explain more about this year’s campaign
Driving safety together
2023 Rail Safety Week Conference
“G
et involved, do something”. That is the message to the industry from Elaine Clark ahead of this month’s RSW which takes place June 24-30. “It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, for example you could align some of what you are planning anyway to take place during that week and really shout about it,” added RSW’s Lead. Established in 2016, RSW is an industry-led initiative focused on rail safety for all – people who work on the railway, customers who use the railway, and those who can be affected by operations. Simon Higgens MBE, Steering Group Chair, said: “The industry is involved in safety 365 days a year (well 366 days this year), so we are not asking them to do anything above and beyond what they are already doing.
“What we are asking them to do, however, is tell us what they are doing during that one specific week so that we can tell others about it. We can all achieve more by talking to each other and working together and RSW gives us that platform to do so.” Working with leading names across the industry through a variety of conferences, site briefings, and school safety-based events, RSW aims to bring rail safety to the forefront of people’s minds across a dedicated week of events and action. “RSW is a hugely powerful campaign that refocuses our attention and raises the profile of what we all do across the industry,” added Simon, who is Business Development Director of Story Contracting. “More importantly, it brings us all together as a community and we can learn from others, share best practice and improve what we do to ensure that
June 2024
everyone goes home safe every day. “The Steering Group wants to have an impact upon everyone involved with the railways; workers, passengers, school children and those who live near or who cross the railway all should be the focus of our attention. Safety affects everybody and that is our key message.” Rail is one of the safest forms of public land transport and the UK has one of the best safety records of any major railway in the world. Statistics from the Department for Transport have found the risk of potentially high-risk train accidents has decreased by 70 per cent over the past 20 years. Level crossing and trespass-related fatalities also fell by nine per cent from the previous year and the UK’s rail passenger and workforce fatality rate is also below the European average; all of which has