A new report by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) shows rail is still among the safest transport modes for passengers and goods. Amid economic challenges and industry changes, continued vigilance and focus on health and safety remain essential.
RSSB launched the 2024-2025 Annual Health and Safety Report (AHSR) at its fifth annual Operations and Risk Conference. Bringing together over 200 industry leaders, the conference was used to consider key challenges, facilitate state of the art thinking and to share good practice.
The AHSR presents a comprehensive summary of health and safety performance within the rail industry. The report utilises data from RSSB’s Safe Insights platform (previously SMIS), the primary tool for reporting and sharing safety information across the sector.
The report highlights recent challenges facing the rail industry, including:
- Incidents of staff harm from assaults increased by 53% compared to the previous year. This notable increase, coupled with the tragic passing of Jorge Ortega at Ilford station, has brought this appalling issue into sharp focus. The rail industry is taking positive action to reduce and prevent attacks in stations and trains through training, body worn cameras and even body armour. However, for things to really improve, there needs to be a wholesale change in public behaviour.
- There was one passenger fatality in a train accident, the collision at Talerddig. In total, 29 people died as a result of accidents on the railway in 2024-25, with the majority involving trespass. While travelling by train is safe, unauthorised access to the track is highly dangerous. The rail industry is collaborating to raise public awareness about these hazards, actively discourage trespassing, and to implement effective responses when incidents occur.
- The rate of suicides on the railway has unfortunately mirrored the national increase. This is a widespread issue extending beyond the rail sector, and the industry is collaborating and working with other sectors to address this issue.
- The railway is operating in a period of financial prudence, organisational change and the challenges of a changing climate. Beyond these challenges, traditional railway risks are still there. SPADs, overspeeding, level crossing misuse, and the platform-train interface— are still there. And they still need attention.
Chris Knowles, RSSB’s director of system safety and health, said: “Our Operational Risk and Safety Conference underlined the rail industry’s proactive approach to challenges such as trespass, worker assaults, extreme weather, financial constraints, and societal changes.
“Our latest Annual Health and Safety Report shows Britain’s railway is still a safe mode of transport, in no small part due to the focus and vigilance of the whole industry. But we can do more. It remains essential to collaborate, to share safety and performance data and to apply the learning and hard-won lessons from incidents at pace.”
Image credit: iStockphoto.com/mbbirdy
