Passenger and staff accidents fall as a result of priority safety campaign

East Coast has unveiled a marked improvement in safety levels following a concerted campaign carried out in the past 12 months since the train operator took over the franchise.

New figures show that, between November 2009 and last month, the number of accidents involving passengers and staff fell by 10%, with accidents involving passengers on trains down 29%, passengers taken to hospital down 53% and assaults on staff down 25%.

In addition, the number of staff working days lost through injury is down by 50% from 1,453 in 2009 to a projected 750 this year.

The safety campaign included introducing a 72-hour fast-track review process for any accident that resulted in major injuries to staff or passengers or resulted in a loss of staff working days.

A root and branch review and re-write of safety systems is now under way to ensure the company is producing the most up-to-date safety standards that follow industry best-practice and deliver continuous improvement in safety performance.

East Coast’s Head of Safety and Environment, Mike Kersley said: “These excellent safety results reflect the hard work put in by everybody at East Coast, from the Directors who lead by example to the management and staff on the front-line who are delivering these improvements.

“But there is no room for complacency. We have begun to produce positive results and we need to maintain our efforts by constantly reviewing and improving our safety plans and initiatives to ensure we continue to make progress.”

Earlier this month, East Coast won an award from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations for its ‘Safer Together’ Summits.

The Summits were developed by East Coast’s Safety, Learning and Development and Communications Departments and were attended by over 95% of managers and Health & Safety Representatives and marked the start of East Coast’s safety culture change programme.