Our approach to safety
Safety is at the heart of everything we do
At Network Rail, safety is paramount. The safety of passengers and other members of the public using our infrastructure, the safety of our employees and safety in our partnerships. You can find out more about how we apply the highest standards of safety across our business at the links below.
Our safety vision
Our industry is incredibly complex; our approach to safety can’t be. Everyone Home Safe Every Day is Network Rail’s safety promise; simple and all-encompassing.
Our approach is not simply reactive. We measure our performance to target improvement, but we attribute at least as much focus on the precursors to accidents. We design and build our infrastructure with safety as the top priority, from the very start of the process.
Day to day, we have in depth reporting systems for unsafe conditions or acts which could have resulted in an incident or accident. Through careful analysis guiding early intervention, we are able to prevent accidents before they occur.
Our Home Safe Plan provides a framework for the delivery of safety benefits in high-risk areas and allows us to track progress against the targets we set ourselves.
We work very closely with a number of partners and agencies across the industry, who regulate and hold us to account on safety performance and collaborate with us to keep the railway safe.
Risk averse
Risk awareness forms the foundation of our safety culture. All our staff are encouraged to recognise, identify and act to reduce risk – and not just those on the front line. Accident prevention is the duty of every employee, on the tracks or away from them.
The railway is constantly changing and evolving and therefore so are the risks. We’re continually, monitoring, learning and innovating in our approach to reduce risk across the network, always asking the question of every situation: could this be safer?
Spreading the word
We also share our learning – through campaigns, communications and initiatives within our organisation, and externally by working in partnership with cross industry stakeholders, sponsors and communities.
Margam East Jn: A fatal accident involving two track staff 3 July 2019
January 23rd 2020. Report of a Level 3 (formal) Investigation held by Network Rail Wales and Western Region and Great Western Railway into the following event at Margam East Junction, South Wales: Death of two track workers who were struck by a Swansea to London Paddington train: 3 July 2019