Railway Safety: Risk Analysis and Management

This assignment delves into the critical topic of railway safety by focusing on risk analysis and management strategies. It analyzes various potential hazards within the railway industry, including those related to infrastructure, human error, and external factors. The document explores different techniques used to identify, assess, and mitigate these risks, emphasizing the importance of a comprehensive safety culture. It draws upon relevant research studies and case examples to illustrate best practices in railway safety management.

Running head: RISK MANAGEMENT IN RAILWAYS
RISK MANAGEMENT IN RAILWAYS
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Risk Management system for a new railway company...............................................................2
Business risk issues and hazard identification process...............................................................2
Risk analysis................................................................................................................................3
Risk evaluation.............................................................................................................................4
Risk management strategies for setting up Interstate rail passenger operation in Australia.......5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Risk management approach is needed in organization for integrated safety management
across the work system. In the context of railway industry, risk management system is necessary
to assess the safety in the railway operations and plan ways to manage risk and enhance safety. It
is also necessary to safeguard employees and passengers and reduce the maintenance cost of the
system. This is dependent not just on safety in terms of railway infrastructure, it also covers all
elements of safety which includes health and safety, environmental management, track
inspection, procurement and quality of the track (An et al. 2011). This report is mainly concerned
with developing the risk management system for a new company setting up railway operations in
Australia. The company will mainly handle second hand locomotives, passenger carriages and
patient handling facilities. Therefore, this reports describes the key features of risk management
system for the new railway company and it also incorporate element of rail safety, OHS
regulation and code of practice to inform each stage of risk management process.
Risk Management system for a new railway company
Business risk issues and hazard identification process
For a new Australian company starting operations in interstate railway passenger
operations, the most important priority will be managing railway safety in accordance with
Occupational Health and Safety Regulation of particular state or territory. The compliance to the
OHS regulation would depend on identifying business risk issues such as identifying hazards
present in the railway operations and analyzing them for severity (Ericson 2015). As the new
company will handle both passenger and locomotive carriages, the main goal will to control any
fatal incidents and protect passengers from any risk. Hazard identification process is present in

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any organization to identify all foreseeable hazards and then analyzing the risk systematically
(Bahn 2013). Therefore, appropriate hazard analysis process will be setup to identify and
prioritize high and low risk issues.
Systematic and structure hazards identification process will be considering all the factors
present in the railway system. This will include mode of operation, boundary of the system,
circumstances of system, human factors and maintenance cycle. The Preliminary analysis will
give an indication of hazards present in the whole railway system operations and then the
hazards will be categorized on the basis of severity of damage (Beus et al. 2016). The severity
will be judged by critically analysing the impact of risk on infrastructure damage and human
injury. The importance of hazard categorization process is that it will facilitate safety
management planning and determining follow-up actions to mitigate the hazards present in the
system (Collis et al. 2014).
Secondly, as tracks plays a major role in safety of the railway system, hazard
identification in this area can be done by the variable of horizontal rougness, roughness on the
running surface and the condition of ballast. Some of the diagnostic test that can be useful for
tracking safety of railway track may include visual inspection of the railway track, technical
inspection, measurements of tracks and shifts of rails and inspection or turnouts (Bertrand et al.,
2017, June).
Risk analysis
This step is the most crucial part of the risk management system. Risk analysis will help
to quantify risk assessment in the railway system design and operations. The Railway Safety and
Compliance manager and the Rail Safety workers will have the responsibility to maintain the risk

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register and conduct risk assessment for the railway operations and plan relevant controls to
reduce the hazards (Profillidis 2014). The maintenance of the risk register can give all the ideas
about the hazards present, changes that have occurred after identifying risk and level of residual
risk still present. The risk assessment and evaluation can also be done by the application of OHS
code of practice and risk estimation principles. Reviewing OHS code of practice can guide
managers to understand the standards of health and safety needed in the railway system. The
hazard analysis process will also be done by means of gathering information related to
passengers/ workers (Reese 2015).
A professional risk analyst will be recruited to ensure professional risk analysis takes
place to minimize all possibility of hazards or accidents. They can develop event trees and fault
trees to easily represent risk patterns. There are also many risk assessment model and identifying
the most relevant one for the organization would to quantify failure probability and provide
qualitative indicators of severity such as minor, sever, major or fatal hazards (Dindar et al.
2016).
Risk evaluation
The main purpose of risk evaluation in the risk management system is to determine the
likelihood and potential consequences of risk. For the new railway company in Australia, the
main purpose of risk evaluation will be to determine whether the risk acceptable or it requires
serious action. Based on determining the acceptability, frequency and severity of risk, the risk
manager of the company will take decisions regarding the tolerability of the risk (Robertson
2016). The severity of the risk will be categorized into minor, major, critical and catastrophic,
whereas the frequency of risk can be categorized into very unlikely, remote, occasional, probable
and frequent. If the risk is at intolerable level, then appropriate measures need to be taken

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regarding converting the risk into tolerable level. Secondly, to plan and reduce risk, cost
considerations will also be important. If cost associated with a change outweighs the benefit,
then such change will not be implemented (Caetano and Teixeira, 2015). However, mainly
priority will be given to catastrophic risk irrespective of the cost because such risk would cost
lives of passengers and workers too. Hence, this type of risk evaluation process will make the
process of implementing risk management and control easier for the risk manager. The main
purpose of risk management will be to maximize benefits for the new railway company and
ensure complete compliance with railway regulations.
Risk management strategies for setting up Interstate rail passenger operation in Australia
An effective risk management strategy is the key elements of good corporate governance
and enables a company to achieve its operational and strategic objectives. The company should
be committed in developing integrated and robust risk management processes across the
company to guarantee decision making that is informed and suitable considerations of both
opportunities and risks, so that the risk of injury to a person can be minimized.
In order to accomplish that, the following strategies can be taken up –
1. Maintenance of a current contemporary risk management frame work which will
facilitate the management of the risks and provides guarantee that the risks are being
properly managed.
There are several tools that can be used to measure the risks associated with rail.
They are – The bow tie risk assessment. It involves the analysis, communication and
consultation of the risk management process. It helps in providing safety assurance to the

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passengers, work force and the members of the public that can get affected (baysari et al.
2008).
Horizon scanning- it is a process of identifying the risks that may imply on an
organization. It involves the identification of the risks associated with the negative
impacts as well as the beneficial opportunities (Reese 2015).
2. Complexity and system integration- In order to carry out a railway project in a large scale
it is necessary that selected engineers are appointed to carry out the projects. Engineers
from different countries can be hired who have already high speed railways.
3. Financial risk analysis is also another factor, which has to be kept in mind. Sound
funding has to be present to provide the best quality of work. Accuracy of the cost
estimates should be made in order to meet up to the total cost.
4. In order to set up a large scale of railway interstate passenger operations it is necessary to
maintain central and local government cooperation. It is required to consult with the
government bodies regarding the cost management, the accessibility to the tacks,
infrastructures and funding (Ericson 2015). The government body should be consulted
with regarding the patient safety.
5. Several policies to ensure work place safety and to provide safety to the passengers. The
regulations and the policies that have to be implemented are The HSE policy, drug and
the alcohol policy (Ericson 2015).
6. The section for the health safety and the environmental control of the company should
oversee the implementation of the regulations and the policies regarding he usage of the
tools and the equipments to ensure passenger safety (Profillidis 2014).

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7. Drug and alcohol policy created by the companies. Drug and alcohol consumption
created at the work place can bring about hazardous incidents, when it comes to the
safety of so many people. Smoking should be prohibited in the premises as it is related to
interstate rail passenger operations. The regulation policies should be well outlined
(Glendon et al. 2016)
8. Setting up of emergency response procedures for hazards like fire, equipment failure and
accidents. There should be specific emergency enquiry centers to cater to at the time of
the hazards. Identification if the probable risks and prompt action is the main key to this
point. Provision of first Aid, firefighter’s team should also be present and should be
available as and when required. The workplace should be equipped with the emergency
tools like the fire extinguishers and the first Aid kits. In order to manage the risks the
company should follow certain steps that are identification of the probable risks,
establishment of the enquiry centers, which can have access to the emergency services
like the hospitals and the fire fighters (Beus, McCord and Zohar 2016). The workers
appointed should be skilled properly in order to resolve the technical issues fast and thus
prevent any hazards.
9. When it comes to the setting up of an interstate railway system, which deals with heavy
engineering equipments and tools, the magnitude of the damage is expected to be large.
In order to prevent that it is important that the workplace will be equipped with tools and
machine that function efficiently and care should be maintained carefully (Sapienza and
Grimm 2012). Provision of the safety equipments like the fire extinguishers, hose pipes,
fireman’s blankets, fire tenders, dry risers, hose reels, fire hose cabinets and others.
Active clothing equipments should be provided to the workers. The personal protective

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clothing will include earmuffs, goggles, dust masks, luminous vests and others (Stouffer
et al., 2011).
10. Drills should be organized in order to train the workers, so that prompt action can be
taken during any hazard and to ensure passenger safety. Proper evacuation drills has to be
organized in order to train the new employees (Collis et al. 2014). Trainings should be
given to the newly employed workers to deliver first aid to the patients and the peers at
the time of nay mishap.
11. It should be ensured that the organization employees have clearly defined roles and
responsibilities in order to avoid any miscommunication and confusion. It should be
clearly noted that the risk management skills are the integral part of the decision making
and business planning of a new company.
12. The company should abide by the strategies taken up by the SHREQ (safety, health, risk,
environment and quality), which applies the risk management strategies in order for the
identification of the safety risks linked to business operations and functions (Sapienza
and Grimm 2012).
13. On the basis of the Board’s approved risk appetite, risk tolerance levels should be applied
that would ensure the management and reporting of risks.
14. There should be a continuous assessment of the risk management framework and the
processes related and manage via on-going monitoring, communication and consultation,
periodic review.

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Conclusion
The report summarized the feature of risk management system for a new railway
company setting up its operation in Australia. This was framed keeping in mind the requirement
of health and safety according to the OHS Act and the risk management framework. The
systematic stages of risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk management
process has been extensively explained to assess how the company is prepared to manage risk
and promote safety or workers as well as passengers. Passengers should also be made aware of
the safety precautions through signs and posters, and the posters should indicate what is expected
of them in thecase of any emergency, and a good example is the fire exits and assembly points.

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References
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