
About this course
Overview
Rail safety is mostly organisational rather than technical. This runs from building a safety management system through investigating an accident properly, and into the culture work that decides whether the technical controls are respected on a Tuesday night shift.
What you will be able to do
Learning outcomes
- Describe the components of a railway SMS
- Assess and rank operational safety risks
- Lead an evidence-based incident investigation
- Distinguish root causes from immediate causes
- Recommend culture and reporting improvements
What the course sets out to do
Course objectives
- Explain safety management system structure
- Apply risk assessment to railway operations
- Conduct structured accident investigation
- Identify root and organisational causes
- Strengthen safety culture and reporting
Course content
Modules
01Safety management systems
SMS structure, safety policy, and safety assurance in rail operations.
02Risk assessment
Hazard identification, risk ranking, and control selection for railways.
03Accident investigation
Evidence gathering, sequence reconstruction, and causal analysis.
04Human and organisational factors
How workload, procedures, and culture contribute to incidents.
05Safety culture
Building reporting, learning, and just-culture behaviours across the workforce.
06Learning from events
Turning findings into effective corrective actions and shared lessons.
Who it is for
Target audience
Railway safety officers, operations managers, investigators, and supervisors responsible for safe operation.
Before you start
Prerequisites
Safety, operations or engineering responsibility on a railway.