1. Executive summary
Health and safety by design (HSbD) is the elimination or control of health and safety risks in infrastructure, equipment, products or processes by early consideration and dealing with those potential risks at the design stage. While this principle is simple, and offers numerous benefits, too often we find the planning of new works or modifications has failed to take simple steps to avoid hazards to the health and safety of passengers and workers.
It requires those planning new or modified works to consider, at the earliest stages, what the impact of the change will be on the whole railway system throughout its lifecycle. They should design out issues, or where elimination is not reasonably practicable, ensure that residual risks are capable of effective control and communicated to those who will manage them.
Better planning, consistent application of appropriate standards and early engagement with operators and users can avoid future hazards, reduce late design changes, and drive down levels of ill health, incidents and accidents. Good design can also improve functionality, productivity and cost-effectiveness by reducing the need for costly changes later.
Health and safety by design is not a new approach; Britain’s railway safety systems are built on nearly 200 years of learning from incidents. ORR wants the industry to move from learning only after incidents occur to proactively identifying and designing out potential issues before they arise.
Everyone planning new work or changes to existing systems should consider how good design can make their systems inherently safer for passengers, employees and the public, and with less risk to health. In particular, ORR’s Vision includes:
ORR expects designers, clients, manufacturers, contractors and others involved in planning or changing systems to apply health and safety by design consistently across all parts of the railway, including high-speed rail, mainline, metro, light rail, innovative systems and heritage operations.