Edition 70 July 2024 

INSIDE THIS EDITION

+ CEO message
+ National Transport Commission's review of the Rail Safety National Law
+ Increasing our focus on product adoption and implementation - RISSB's 2025 Work Plan
+ Enroll now for our Sydney Undertake a Derailment Investigation course
+ Member Spotlight

CEO MESSAGE

A term often used in safety circles is “There’s no IP when it comes to safety”. This is no more applicable than in a railway environment where we have multiple operators (and others) sharing a common network. When we’re each able to share our respective organisations’ best practice safety ideas, we’re not only expanding the reach of each other’s safety improvements, we’re also likely improving the efficiency and reliability of our network operations.

Last week, Sara Conway (Manager Central and North-West, Hunter Valley at ARTC) presented at a RISSB Master Class webinar on ARTC’s “Sharing ideas to Make a Change” program. This program was awarded the Frontline Worker Safety Initiative Award at the recent RISSB Rail Safety Awards. And so, under the banner of “There’s no IP when it comes to safety”, we’re exploring the appetite for RISSB members to be sharing their safety initiatives and programs on the RISSB website, to provide an easy reference point for our industry’s best-practice safety learnings and initiatives.

And whilst our operating environments can sometimes be extraordinarily complex (requiring complex solutions), often the best work health and safety solutions are the simplest. The image below from Sara’s webinar presentation demonstrates how the working-at-height risk was eliminated for the task of cleaning signal lenses.

Which reminds me of one of my (many) favourite sayings; “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci.

Damien White
RISSB CEO

GENERAL NEWS

National Transport Commission's review of the Rail Safety National Law

Last week, the National Transport Commission (NTC) published their final report on a targeted independent review of the Rail Safety National Law (RSNL). The focus of the independent review was whether the law best positions the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) to:

• Deliver its regulatory functions efficiently
• Support the safety aspects of rail reform
• Support the National Rail Action Plan’s focus on interoperability and harmonisation.

The RSNL aims for a seamless and coordinated national approach to rail safety regulation in Australia. The review presented an opportunity to look at how effective the law has been.

But what does this mean for industry? The review found that over all, the law was operating well and that the focus on safety should be maintained. Other recommendations in the report include a more proactive role for the ONRSR in achieving rail interoperability in line with the National Rail Action Plan, while also promoting innovation and productivity across the national rail network.

The report has now been endorsed by Australia’s transport ministers. You can read the full report here, and can find out more about the NTC's recommendations here.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ON
Keolis Downer Adelaide 

Keolis Downer Adelaide is the operator of the Adelaide Metropolitan Passenger Rail Network, and have been participating member of RISSB since 2021.

Last week, Keolis Downer Adelaide marked a significant milestone with the insourcing of a rolling stock maintenance division. Alongside the South Australian Government, Keolis Downer will optimise this new talent and enhanced capability, continuing to deliver a safe and high performing passenger rail network for the local Adelaide community.

Find out more here.