A systemic approach to safety management on the British railway system

Recent and highly publicised accidents in the transport industry have highlighted the need for operators of public transport to address safety hazards. Safety still tends to be addressed in isolation, though any accident is an emergent property of a system. There is a need for a systemic approach to understand the systemic nature of risk. This paper presents a preliminary Railway Safety Management System (RSMS) model that aims to help to maintain risk within an acceptable range in railway industry operations in a coherent way. It is hoped that this approach will lead to more effective management of safety in the British railway industry.