Safety and Risk Management: Waterfall Train Accident, New South Wales

Running head: SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Safety and Risk Management: Waterfall Train Accident, New South Wales
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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................2
2. Waterfall train accident new South Wales.......................................................................2
3. The Causes of the Accident: The Safety Breaches..........................................................3
4. Changes to Policies or Practise........................................................................................5
5. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................6
References............................................................................................................................8

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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Waterfall Train Accident, New South Wales
1. Introduction
In the past years, there have been many cases of train accidents and train crashes in
Australia and in overseas that mainly occurred as a result of breaching the safety requirements
and rules. The report takes into consideration the Waterfall train accident of New South Wales
and discusses the number of reasons that contributed the train crash. The Waterfall rail accident
occurred on January 31, 2003 near Waterfall in New South Wales Australia. The accident gained
a considerable media coverage concerning its cause (Glendon & Evans, 2007). A number of
causes of the accident was speculated, the major one out of them being the excessive speed of the
train and poor maintenance (Donaldson, Edkins & Victoria, 2004). The report gives an overview
of the Waterfall rail accident and its causes and analyses the process by which similar rail
accidents can be prevented. The details of the Waterfall train accident are discussed in the
following paragraphs.
2. Waterfall train accident new South Wales
On January 31, 2003, a four car Tangara passenger train derailed in about 2 kilometres
south of the waterfall railway station. The details about this train accident were difficult to gather
as the train driver died in the accident and was not available to provide any concrete information
about the accident. The train guard failed to provide concrete evidence as well (McIntosh &
Edkins, 2007). Apart from that, the possibility of a significant mechanical malfunctioning was
not readily identifiable as well.
This was an accident associated with rail derailment. The derailment of a vehicle mainly
occurs when the trains run off from its rails. There are a number of reasons behind the derailment