Welcome to another episode of the RSSB podcast! Today, join four members of our Executive Committee — Johnny Schute (Chief Operating Officer), Keith Hanlon-Smith (Chief People Officer), Hannah Kingsley (Chief Finance Officer), and Paul McLaughlin (Chief Commercial Officer) — as they outline industry's current challenges, discuss RSSB's priorities in addressing those, and introduce our new 'strategic multipliers'. You can find out more about our 2024–2025 Annual Business Plan at: https://www.rssb.co.uk/about-rssb/who-we-are/our-business-plan ..read more

Welcome back to a new season of the RSSB Podcast. In this episode, we’re joined by RSSB Chief Executive Mark Phillips. Mark takes us through our five-year Strategic Business Plan covering 2024–2029, pulling out some of the key priorities along the way. He’s particularly excited to see how rail can leverage some of the technological and digital advancements taking place. Listen now to learn more about what we’re hoping to deliver to industry in the next few years. Related information Strategic Business Plan 2024-2029: https://www.rssb.co.uk/about-rssb/who-we-are/strategic-business-plan-2024-2 ..read more

Rail has been the most environmentally-friendly form of long distance transport for many years, and now needs to reduce its carbon emissions even further. George Davies, director of sustainability at RSSB, and Martin Watt, counsel at global law firm Dentons, discuss the challenges and opportunities of net zero carbon for rail ..read more

The significant trends in safety risk from 2022-2023, and what's being done to keep our railway one of the safest in the world. 01:19  About Robert Sigrist 01:55  The work of the RSSB Risk and Safety Intelligence Team 02:55  The significant safety findings for 2022-2023 04:03  Changes in public behaviour, trespass and sitting on the platform edge 05:09  The trend in signals passed at danger 06:16  Issues around asset integrity, the whole system risk model 07:20  Some safety statistics, summary and close Related information: The Annual Health and Safety Repo ..read more

As RSSB celebrates its 20th year, this episode looks at the work that it has done to  help improve safety at level crossing, one of the biggest sources of risk for the railway.  00:57 About Michael Woods 02:00 The Ufton level crossing accident described 03:32 How Michael got RSSB involved 04:56 RSSB directors brief ministers and help secure RSSB’s future independence 05:54 Looking at new technologies to improve level crossing safety 08:37 Reviewing the ideas sent on for safety improvements 11:04 Proposals for rail vehicle and track design improvements 12:29 Improvements in level cros ..read more

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch does what it says on the tin. It looks at both accidents and incidents to find their underlying causes. No blame is laid, but recommendations for mitigations are made; some of which may be around organisational culture. Here, two of RAIB’s accident investigators talk about a company’s safety culture, learning opportunities, and how the two work together to deliver an ever safer railway. 00:05 Introduction 01:37 About Tabitha 01:57 About Mark 02:38 Tabitha’s views on the connection between safety culture and learning 05:17 Mark talks about what impact RAIB ..read more

This is the first in a series on specific health conditions. In this episode, recorded in Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, an RSSB employee talks with one of our health and wellbeing specialists about his experience of diagnosis, and the support received during treatment.  00:43 About Deb Archibald 01:04 About Tavid Dobson and discovering his cancer 02:05 Tavid talks about his treatment options 02:30 Making sense and making decisions 03:34 The impact and support at work 04:31 The support mechanisms that worked for Tavid 05:37 How to respond and support 07:14 On men, talking about having c ..read more

Colds, flu, and other respiratory illnesses always increase over the winter period. That list now includes Covid-19, which is still with us. So, how can we best protect ourselves from it and the others in the coming weeks and months? Claire Shooter, our Public Health Manager, explains what we can expect and do to stay as healthy as possible. 00.44 Claire explains when and why there are peaks in respiratory illnesses. 01.57 Why we know less about the current Covid situation. 02.54 What a rise in infections might mean for rail. 03.30 About Long Covid, its symptoms and how to manage it. 04.58 Wha ..read more

Standards are talked about very often within rail, so this podcast provides an introductory overview. It describes what standards are, when rail started using standards, what the different types of standards abbreviations mean, how standards development is triggered, and where to find out more.    00:37 Introducing Tom Lee, Director of Standards at RSSB 01:47 Brief definition of standards 03:17 When rail first started using standards, and why  06:18 The organisations that produce standards relevant for rail, and the main standards abbreviations 11:31 The areas that standards cov ..read more

The railway is a very complex system. RSSB has developed tools for the industry to assess and target some hazards, but not all of them. Much of our risk analysis knowledge is based on the Safety Risk Model (SRM), now in version 9. One response to some identifiable hazards is to impose a blanket speed restriction. These can cover wide areas, and may themselves actually increase some types of risk. Being able to identify specific parts of the network that may be susceptible to increased risk under certain environmental conditions can help. Building on the knowledge within the SRM, RSSB has, with ..read more