Health and safety

Making our railways safer

Content archived on 13 May 2025

12 September 2014
As director of health and safety and HM chief inspector of railways, I lead a team of inspectors who spend most of their time out and about on the railways. We work with Network Rail, train operators and others from across the industry to help make Britain's railways safer whether you are travelling or working on them. Inspectors have been doing this for quite a while – 175 years next year.

Balfour Beatty fined £350,000 for causing rail worker electric shock

Content archived on 13 May 2025

9 September 2014
Balfour Beatty Rail Projects Ltd has today been fined £350,000 and ordered to pay costs of £50,000 following a prosecution by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The company has been found guilty of breaching health and safety law, and causing a rail worker to suffer serious burns after coming into contact with the 25000 volt overhead lines near Cricklewood in March 2011.

Why the great success of Britain’s railways also presents major safety challenges

Content archived on 13 May 2025

12 August 2014
Britain's railways are carrying record numbers of passengers and freight on the network today – there were more than 1.5bn passenger journeys on the network in 2013-14, up from around 1.2bn in 2008-09. The amount of freight goods carried has increased from 102.7 million tonnes in 2008-09 to 116.6 million tonnes in 2013-14.

Predict and prevent in practice – Richard Price

Content archived on 13 May 2025

11 August 2014
Welcome to the new ORR blog. One of the privileges of being chief executive is that I get the first crack at writing a blog entry. I want to use this to give you a better insight into what people at ORR do and why - working across the industry to ensure an efficient, effective and safe railway for everyone.

Revising railway safety regulations: Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1997, Railway Safety Regulations 1999 and Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2001

8 July 2014
In 2014, as part of the Government's 'Red Tape Challenge' to reduce unnecessary secondary legislation, we consulted on our proposals to revoke the Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1997, Railway Safety Regulations 1999 and Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2001 (together ‘the current Regulations’) and replace them with a new set of regulations. The decision

Periodic review 2013 (PR13) consultations

1 July 2014

Content archived on 13 May 2025

A list of our closed PR13 consultations in date order. Consultation on implementation of CP5 capacity charge for new open access operators Last updated: 1 Jul 2014 Consultation about our proposed approach to implement our decision on the capacity charge rates payable by new entrant open access operators (OAOs) during CP5. Capacity charge baselines for freight, open access passenger and charter

Prohibition notices 2014

19 June 2014
This page contains details of prohibition notices issued in 2014. Copies of the notices can be found on our public register. Company and notice number Brief description Issue date Compliance date Result London Underground Limited P/KPD1/10/10/2014 The notice was served due to scaffolding at Northfields Depot being unsafe due to insufficient guards being in place – which could lead to staff falling

ORR supports International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD)

Content archived on 13 May 2025

3 June 2014
Today (3 June) ORR is supporting International Level Crossing Awareness Day – a global campaign to raise public awareness of the risks and dangers posed by level crossings. This year the focus is on 'professional drivers'.

Occupational health formal enforcement

26 March 2014
As part of ORR's strategy to raise awareness on occupational health under our health programme, we will publicise recent cases where formal enforcement action has been taken to secure legal compliance
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