The plenary meeting of the UIC Safety Platform was held online on 18 June. The Chair of the Safety Platform, Ali Chegini (RSSB), opened the meeting by expressing his thanks to UIC and Network Rail, and in particular to Allan Spence (NR) and Isabelle Fonverne (UIC), for the hugely successful event held on 10 June to mark the launch of the 13th International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD).
The Chair welcomed all members, and in particular Hernán Jiménez, Safety and Security Manager at Euskotren in the Spanish Basque Country, as a new member of the UIC Safety Platform. He also welcomed a special guest, Asako Togari of JR East Paris, who deals with safety issues, particularly natural disasters. Ms Togari will be part of the UIC Extreme Weather Taskforce launched by Frédéric Hénon (UIC).
The new UIC Safety Platform terms of reference were unanimously endorsed. Frédéric Hénon presented the Twinning II project, as well as the future launch of a taskforce dedicated to safety barriers and SMS digitalisation.
The Chairs of the Safety Platform Working Groups then provided an overview of their respective activities:
- International Railway Safety Network (IRSN) chaired by Doris Horvath, Head of the Safety, Security and Environment Department at CFL
- Occupational Health and Safety Group (OHSG) chaired by Maria Hedqvist, Transport Quality and Railway Safety at Trafikverket
Ms Hedqvist presented one of the main outputs from the working group: a document on railroad vehicles, which is available online at https://bit.ly/3gUDo2x. She then presented the OHSG’s first workstream for 2021: new technologies for managing risk at work. The aim is to share practical arrangements in various countries and help to promote the material to all UIC members. The topic will be divided into two subtopics, one on electronic hearing protection and the other on risk watch. The goal is to develop an interactive and dynamic toolbox on existing and future new technologies to manage risks at work.
- Human and Organisational Factors Working Group (HOFWG) chaired by Bernard Penners, Infrabel
Virginie Papillault presented the development of the HOF Digital Platform, while Bernard Penners provided summaries on two key topics: sharing practical examples of incorporation of HOF in SMS, and sharing practical examples of human risk exposure and measurement/adequacy of human performance.
- System Safety Management Group (SSMG) chaired by Achim Vollmuth, Safety Management at DB AG
On behalf of the chair, Frédéric Hénon provided information on the JNS Normal Procedure in the aftermath of the Great Belt accident.
- Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN) chaired by Allan Spence, Director of Regulator Liaison at Network Rail
Mr Spence reminded the participants that a call for membership had been sent out by UIC in March 2021: 43 people from 19 countries had applied for membership. A small taskforce had been set up to work on a level crossing risk assessment method based on an international benchmark to be used as a basis for UIC guidelines to be published in 2022.
- New UIC Safety Platform Working Group on Trespass and Suicide Prevention (TreSP-Network)
Isabelle Fonverne shared information on the call for membership sent out by UIC in March 2021: 36 people from 17 countries had applied for membership. The nominations of the chair and vice-chair were endorsed (further information will be provided in a future eNews article). An online kickoff meeting is due to take place on 28 June from 15.00 to 17.00 CEST.
- Safety Performance Group (SPG) chaired by Bart Hoogcarspel, Data Analyst at ProRail
Mr Hoogcarspel advised that new members had joined the Safety Database: LTG (Lithuania) and Euskotren (Spain).
Allan Spence (GLCN Chair) then highlighted the tremendous success of the international ILCAD launch conference co-organised by UIC and Network Rail and held online on 10 June with simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Spanish. 300 people in 47 countries across all of the continents had connected to the conference, with video also streamed in South America for an additional 100 additional participants. The conference featured 11 presentations from the USA, Argentina, Uruguay, Europe, Morocco and South Africa from road and rail sector representatives, institutions (DG Move) and international organisations, supported by Jean Todt, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and UN Special Envoy for Road Safety. For a summary of the conference (in English), please visit https://bit.ly/3gE4aLb
A short summary has also been provided in Spanish by Argentinian colleagues:
For more information, please visit www.ilcad.org
#EUYearofRail #ilcad
Finally, members shared information on safety and safety-related events:
- The RSSB Annual Health and Safety Report (AHSR) and its importance in the context of leading health and safety for Britain’s railway strategy was presented by Marcus Dacre, RSSB
- Corporate culture/safety culture at the ÖBB group was presented by Gerhard Gmall, who explained that ÖBB took part in the European Railway Safety Culture Survey (ERSCS) as an early bird partner
- JR East safety data for FY 2020 was presented by Masayoshi Toyohara, JR East
Save the date:
- Safety Platform Steering Committee meetings: 28 September and 15 November (afternoon)
- Safety Platform plenary session/workshop: 16 November (in person at UIC or online)
- 14th ILCAD, 9 June 2022 with a launch conference hosted by AAR/FRA/OL Inc. in Denver (Colorado, USA), preceded by a half-day special session on trespassing and suicide prevention on 8 June and followed by a technical visit on 10 June in Pueblo (Colorado, USA).
For more info, please visit https://uic.org/safety/ and www.ilcad.org
