Letter from Louise Ellman, Chair, Transport Committee, to Ian Prosser, Director of Railway Safety ORR (RLS0030)

 

Ian Prosser

Director of Rail Safety

Office of Rail and Road

One Kemble Street

London

WC2B 4AN

 

30 January 2017

 

 

Dear Mr Prosser

 

Thank you for your letters of 4 and 16 January 2017, responding to the queries set out in my letter of 13 December 2016.

 

I appreciate duty holders are responsible for ensuring that they comply with all health and safety legislation, including having appropriate equipment, processes and procedures in place. I would, however, be grateful if you could provide further detail about how the ORR ensures that these standards are met in practice. In particular:

 

  1. Your letter of 16 January states that one of the occasions where you may review risk assessments is “when we are seeking assurance about how a duty-holder is managing a specific technical, operational or organisational change, for instance, the introduction of new train dispatch arrangements.” Does the ORR review all risk assessments relating to proposals to introduce Driver Only Operation (DOO)? If not, what proportion (approximately) of such proposals has the ORR reviewed?

 

  1. Did any of the twenty enforcement notices served in response to failures to carry out adequate risk assessments relate to DOO processes? If so, what action was required by the ORR? How did the ORR ensure that this action was carried out by the duty holder?

 

  1. In reviewing risk assessments, to what extent does the ORR rely on documentation provided by the duty holder?

 

  1. I understand that you undertake “routine”, “spot” and “joint” site inspections. What are the differences between these types of inspections? How many inspections do you undertake a year? What proportion of these inspections are unannounced?

 

I would also be grateful if you could provide more detail in relation to the summary of the GTR-Southern Railways DOO report which you provided with your letter of 4 January:

 

  1. You mention that the ORR has “brought the industry together” in relation to the safe dispatch of trains. What has this work consisted of so far and what are the plans for its future progression? Who has been involved and in particular, to what extent have you engaged with union representatives? What end products do you expect to see produced as a result of this work, and when will they be delivered?

 

  1. You list “station survey results” and “results of trials where the in-cab monitors stay on until the train reaches 4 mph” as among the documents assessed as part of your review. Who carried out the survey and trials? How many surveys and trials did you review?

 

  1. You also mention that an ORR Railway Operations Specialist Inspector has undertaken inspections on the Horsham to Bognor Regis route. Were there inspections on any other routes? How many inspections were carried out along this route?

 

  1. Your report states that the ORR will carry out routine, spot and joint inspections with safety representatives on the GTR-Southern franchise. How regularly do you envisage these inspections taking place? 

 

As with our previous correspondence, I intend to publish this letter and your response.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Louise Ellman MP

Chair of the Transport Committee