By Greg Morse, Operational Feedback Lead and Chair of the LHSBR Editorial Board, RSSB
RSSB does so much more than produce the Rule Book. We work across an evolving railway to improve safety, efficiency and sustainability for everyone.
Some might say our industry is just a load of safety buzzwords. Lord Cullen – who led the inquiries into the Ladbroke Grove accident of 1999 and the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster of 1988 – once warned against safety becoming nothing but a set of bumper sticker slogans. But with the current obsession with being succinct, striking the balance between brain-catching and brain-feeding can be tricky.
‘I thought Right Track wasn’t for me,’ one driver told us. ‘To me, RSSB means the Rule Book, so I thought it must be for managers, not a driver, shunter or signaller’. The driver’s comment reminded me of a day, in the earlier life of Right Track, I spent at a freight yard, where I was introduced to a mess room of drivers as being ‘from our lords and masters at RSSB’. This meant that everything wrong with the railway was my fault; and I don’t blame them for taking that view.
The thing is, RSSB doesn’t own the rules, you do. We look after them, get some of you round the table to discuss when any changes need to be made, and then help you make them in the safest way. But is that all we do? No!
We also look at all the stats, joining up your reports into trendlines to help show where we all need to be focusing our efforts to reduce risk. We lead on research into new technology and ways of running the network safely, helping rail to ride through the rough patches in a changing world. And we help seek sustainable solutions, to secure the future of rail.
As our new branding also makes a little clearer, we’re safety and standards. Both go hand in hand. Both are all about you.
Right Track exists to provide you with the information and tools you need to do your job better. Let us know what you need help with, and we'll feature an article on it in an upcoming edition. Email us at righttrack@rssb.co.uk
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