Improvement notice targets inspection

摘要

On December 12 HM Railway Inspectorate served Network Rail with an Improvement Notice under Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was duly published on January 7 after expiry of the normal period allowed for an appeal. The notice instructs NR that 'the system for planning and monitoring the basic visual inspection of track requires improvement to ensure serious defects that could affect the safety of trains are identified so that appropriate action can be taken'. This task must be completed by March 31. RMT issued a statement on December 21 claiming that Ihe Improvement Notice had been issued because a report on patrolling validation, carried out following the Grayrigg derailment on February 23 2007 (RBI302 p1), had found that 'competent and experienced' staff undertaking patrolling were finding defects, despite having to 'carry' processes that are 'not robust'.