• Red for Danger
• Gambling awareness
• RAIB report – Loversall Carr
Letter from the editor
The 35th anniversary of the Clapham accident, which caused the deaths of 35 people, is coming on 12 December. There were many moves to improve safety in the aftermath, but one of the things the resulting inquiry highlighted was the fact that the railway needs to have eyes everywhere where safety is concerned. At the time, British Rail was worried about SPADs. It was right to be, but not at the expense of wrongside failures like the one that led to Clapham.
Now, we rightly focus effort on the platform-train interface, climate change and cyber security. Yet SPAD numbers continue to climb and fall and climb. Those changes need to be looked into, and one of the things we’ve noticed in the last year is a rise in the numbers of post-SPAD incidents. The last fatal post-SPAD incident was the collision at Ladbroke Grove in 1999; 31 people were killed and more than 400 were injured.
This issue’s SPADtalk column notes this point, but notes too that we cannot be complacent about the lower-level post-SPAD incidents like derailments and runs-through. The theme is continued in our RAIB report brief, which considers the post-SPAD collision at Loversall Carr Junction on 5 July 2022, in which a driver was injured.
Elsewhere, we cover the perennial problem of safety critical comms, which has been an issue since I joined the railway and for a long time before that. Freightliner’s Bessie Matthews discusses the perils of taking short cuts and RSSB’s Barbara Smith discusses how the railway’s medical standards are set to change.
Greg Morse
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SPADtalk: The ripple effectWhy are more SPADs leading to runs-through and derailments?
More than a sticking plasterInspector Keith Barnes discusses the British Transport Police Workplace Violence Coordination Unit.
Clear and concise commsReports received from passenger operators led Right Track to consider ‘SCC’ in the round. Are yours as clear and concise as they should be?
Corporate memory: Red for DangerRSSB’s Greg Morse explains why L. T. C. Rolt’s classic book is still important.
Rail standardsFive medical standards changes you need to know about…
Gambling awarenessTfL’s Daniel Ruggirello discusses the work being done to raise awareness of harmful gambling and help those in need.
NewswireQuarterly round-up: between August and October this year, several rail incidents occurred, causing injuries and fatalities.
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Cover image credit: RAIB
