The Whistle Board Newsletter – No. 77, August 2020

RISSB's 2020 Virtual Rail Safety Conference
27-28 October 2020

If you are a regular attendee, or always wanted to come to Australia's premier rail safety conference, you can now do so for a fraction of the price. We've just released our new virtual conference rates:

RISSB Member rate
$695 +GST
RISSB Young Professionals Rate
$395 +GST
Standard Rate
$1295 +GST
Young Professionals
$695 +GST

What does your virtual ticket get you?
An exciting re-imagined conference format. This year's virtual program features:

• A 2-day supercharged conference
• A chance to learn from key international and local rail safety experts
• Keynote presentations 
• 11am (AEST) start time on both days
• Technical streams addressing the most pressing safety issues for industry – track worker safety, data / information, level crossings, system safety assurance, contractor management and sharing investigations.
• Compelling panel discussions.

Plus, for the first time ever, your virtual registration will give you unlimited access to an all new RISSB Rail Safety 2020 Event Platform where you can access content for up to three months after the event and participate in pre and post event bespoke networking sessions.

The conference web page will be progressively updated over the coming weeks as speakers and networking opportunities are confirmed.

*Official agenda launch coming soon*

Projects On Parade

Each week we'll showcase a publication in our 2020 / 2021 work plan that we will progressing in the coming year.

Publication Type 
Standard

Publication Name 
AS 7474 System Safety

Overview
Where changes are made to a system that could impact safety, organisations should take a risk-based approach to ensure that hazards associated with that change are reviewed, monitored and controlled throughout the lifecycle of the system. This Standard is being developed to work hand in glove with the RISSB System Safety Guideline (currently under review), and will provide the minimum requirements for organisations when they make changes.

The Standard takes a scalable approach and provides key steps in a framework to ensure that the system, regardless of complexity or scope, is determined to be safe so far as is reasonably practicable.

This publication has tried to take a simple, but progressive approach to system safety, focusing on an argument, a resulting body of evidence, and a safety report that provides assurance to the safety of the system. The System Safety Guideline is also under review to align with the content of AS 7474.

Standards Development Manager 
Catriona Scott
cscott@rissb.com.au

Whoops, I Clicked The Wrong Button and Now You’re Dead: Understanding the Consequences of Poor User Interface Design

We're pleased to have Horizons alumni and first young professional presenter, Ronan McInerney, take to the virtual podium next week.

Ronan, a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) Specialist at Metro Trains Melbourne will be discussing the significant consequences of poor user interface design during RISSB's 21st MasterClass webinar.

Most safety-critical systems require human operators to make decisions based on the information on a computer screen, and yet the design of this Human-Machine Interface (HMI) is often overlooked in the rail industry as a significant risk factor.

Attend next week's webinar to:

• Hear relevant historical cases of how poorly designed software contributed to safety incidents
• Learn the basic science of how human cognition, attention and memory underpins good user interface design
• Receive practical advice on how software projects can meet the needs of end users, not just budgets and schedules.

Interested? Join us at 12PM (AEST) on Tuesday, 25 August 2020. Just click on the blue 'Register Now' button to reserve your place. 

Call for Public Consultation – AS 7703 Railway Signalling – Power Supply Systems

Call for Public Consultation – Wheel defects Code of Practice