På omslaget: Policy and risk På omslaget även: A survey of current practices in safety-related decision making

Every day, decisions are taken which impact on the safety of the railway. These range from those that have an immediate short term impact to those with a longer term, strategic, or indirect impact; safety may be the primary motivation for the decision, or it may be a contributory factor. Formal criteria for taking safety decisions exist within safety cases, but the practicalities of how these are implemented in different parts of the industry have a significant influence on the effectiveness of the industry in delivering a safe railway. A D Little carried out a web-based questionnaire survey of current practices in safety related decision-making, with follow-up interviews for further insight. Key messages from the report are that there is much good practice in practical safety decision-making, and that there is also scope for building on this to assist decision makers through focused training, information, tools and other resources.