USA: The Short Line Safety Institute says its FRA-recognised multi-method Safety Culture Assessment process for freight railways could be easily transferable to commuter train operators.
The institute said on September 17 that a recently-published study looking at the methodology and results of a safety assessment for a commuter railroad had indicated that ‘the process was able to produce the same robust result as an SCA on a freight railroad’. An SLSI Assessor team assisted the commuter operator to identify opportunities for improvement that could lead to a stronger, sustainable safety culture, better working practices and improved training.
‘The SCA process has proven to be a powerful tool for the 90 short line railroads who have participated to date, identifying specific ways that small freight railroads can continue to improve safety culture’, said Tom Murta, Executive Director, SLSI. ‘These railroads have leveraged other offerings from our expert staff including technical assistance to resolve a specific challenge, and follow-up SCAs to measure the extent to which identified opportunities for improvement have been addressed.’
