Railway safety case consultation

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has published a consultative document on changes to the rail industry's safety regime.

The proposed Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 2000 will transfer the duty for accepting train and station operators' safety cases to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) from infrastructure controllers such as Railtrack, and will require the controllers to obtain an independent annual audit of their own safety management systems.

The new regulations implement many of the recommendations of a review undertaken after the Ladbroke Grove train crash in 1999.

Copies of the proposals can be ordered from HSE Books (see box) or are available on the HSE web site at www.open.gov.uk/hse/condocs/cd160.pdf

Anyone wishing to comment on the proposals should write by 24 July 2000 to: Anne Loach, Health and Safety Executive, SPD A1, 5th Floor, South Wing, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS.