As part of Rail Safety Week 2014 the ATSB is highlighting rail investigations and their critical safety lessons. Helping to promote the Rail Safety Week 2014 message of ‘Near miss … Near hit’ the ATSB will be spreading the word about the importance of rail safety.
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) created the safety campaign nine years ago to help reduce the numbers of rail incidents that occur across the nation, many of them fatal. Rail Safety Week is this year specifically focussing on getting the message out about how a split second can mean the difference between life and death. Each one of the 1,000 near misses that occur each year could just as easily be a hit that could end someone’s life and leave a grieving family behind.
The ATSB has investigated several accidents that occurred when maintenance work was being carried out around railway tracks. Through our SafetyWatch initiative Safe work on rail, we are urging industry to give extra attention to the risks faced by rail workers while working on track.
More information can be found at Rail Safety Week 2014.
The ATSB is also highlighting safe work on track through our YouTube channel (ATSBinfo).