Name: Safe journeys: Navigating rail risks with confidence
Uploaded: 2023-11-03T02:52:49.110Z
Duration: 384.87
Description: Natalie Pelham highlights the importance of interoperability, competency training and assessment, and managing risks associated with new technologies. Watch to learn more about data analysis and technology to identify safety risks and outcomes and talks about the priorities and planning initiatives of the Office of Transport Safety Investigations.

Natalie Pelham 2.mp4

Natalie Pelham.vtt

Subtitles

{{00:00:05}}
So my name's Natalie Pelham.

{{00:00:07}}
I'm the Chief investigator at the Office
of Transport Safety Investigations,

{{00:00:11}}
which is New South Wales Independent
Transport Safety Investigator.

{{00:00:22}}
Safety mangement systems and risks:
Main rail safety issues in Australia

{{00:00:27}}
Look, the main rail safety issues in
Australia sort of probably vary depending

{{00:00:31}}
upon where you are, whether you're a
passenger operator or a freight operator.

{{00:00:35}}
But some of the key things
that we are trying to deal with

{{00:00:38}}
nationally are interoperability.

{{00:00:41}}
There's obviously the skill shortage,
which everybody is feeling as a

{{00:00:44}}
result of an aging population and
also as a result of the pandemic.

{{00:00:48}}
And I think the third area is just
around competency training and

{{00:00:52}}
assessment and how you get the right
people in the right roles with the

{{00:00:55}}
right experience and knowledge.

{{00:00:57}}
And these are sort of three, three things
that everybody in the rail industry is

{{00:01:01}}
probably facing regardless of whether
they do freight or passenger operations.

{{00:01:19}}
Safety mangement systems
and risks: Key elements to a

{{00:01:23}}
successful rail management system

{{00:01:24}}
So the key elements of a safety
management system are set out in a

{{00:01:29}}
range of different guidance materials.

{{00:01:31}}
So the rail safety national law lists
the sorts of elements that should be in

{{00:01:34}}
a safety management system, and there's
plenty of guidance material from a range

{{00:01:39}}
of private and public sector operators
that talk about safety management

{{00:01:42}}
systems and what should be in them.

{{00:01:44}}
I think the important thing about a
safety management system is really to

{{00:01:47}}
understand that it's, it's a product
of your risk management approach.

{{00:01:51}}
So it's about understanding your
operations and the risks that

{{00:01:55}}
your operation faces, making sure
you bring in the right people

{{00:02:00}}
to do the risk assessments.

{{00:02:01}}
So they've got the right skills,
knowledge, understanding of your

{{00:02:04}}
operating environment that helps to
identify what the key risk side that

{{00:02:08}}
you face, and also possibly ways in
which you can manage those risks.

{{00:02:11}}
And your safety management systems should
really be a product of that process.

{{00:02:15}}
It captures all of those things
that you identify as ways in which

{{00:02:19}}
you could manage the risk to safety
that arise from your operations.

{{00:02:30}}
Gaps in the current Rail
Safety Management Systems

{{00:02:34}}
Some of the gaps and weaknesses of
systems that we see at OTSI through

{{00:02:37}}
our independent investigation often
around people really understanding

{{00:02:41}}
how new technologies are going to
impact their operating environment.

{{00:02:45}}
And therefore, what are the risks
that need to be addressed when you're

{{00:02:48}}
introducing new technologies, particularly
in relation to understanding what that

{{00:02:53}}
technology is replacing and whether you've
done sufficient risk assessment around it.

{{00:02:57}}
And also how you actually train people
or explain to them how to use these

{{00:03:02}}
new technologies in the way in which
they're operating, in the field.

{{00:03:07}}
So that's an area of weakness.

{{00:03:09}}
I think another area that we notice
through our investigations is just making

{{00:03:13}}
sure that there is that constant review
of the control measures that you have in

{{00:03:17}}
place and talking about them and making
sure, that any new information that

{{00:03:22}}
comes about how to manage risk or any new
technologies or other sorts of things that

{{00:03:26}}
might help you to manage that risk, that
they're brought into those discussions.

{{00:03:30}}
And so you can tweak your safety
management system and its controls, as

{{00:03:34}}
you go and as it evolves and develops.

{{00:03:45}}
Role of data analysis and technology
to indentify safety risks and

{{00:03:49}}
outcomes in the rail indstry

{{00:03:51}}
The benefits of doing data
analysis and also looking at

{{00:03:54}}
technology for safety risks.

{{00:03:56}}
The data analysis does a number
of things, particularly these days

{{00:04:00}}
with the advances in analytics.

{{00:04:02}}
So you can have a look at
a whole lot of dataset.

{{00:04:05}}
That give you from
historical sorts of events.

{{00:04:07}}
And that gives you a sense of sort of
what's gone wrong in the past, what

{{00:04:11}}
the kind of patterns are of things.

{{00:04:13}}
With new technologies that gives you
an opportunity to look forward, what is

{{00:04:18}}
it that we could do differently to the
way in which we manage those risks now.

{{00:04:22}}
How can we use technologies to
address human factors issues?

{{00:04:26}}
Because we all know there are
performance limits of humans.

{{00:04:29}}
So constantly relying on PPE or people
following procedures and processes,

{{00:04:35}}
technology gives us an opportunity to
look at how we take the human element

{{00:04:38}}
out and therefore how we manage that
risk in a slightly different way.

{{00:04:42}}
So the combination of having the data
that gives you some of your understanding

{{00:04:45}}
from the past of risk and technologies
that might help you look for the future,

{{00:04:50}}
how you could manage some of those.

{{00:04:52}}
Those two things coming to give you are
quite powerful in understanding how you

{{00:04:55}}
can improve your safety management system
and the management of risks overall.

{{00:05:08}}
Office of transport safety investigations
priorities and planning initiatives

{{00:05:11}}
So the Office of Transport Safety
Investigations is New South Wales

{{00:05:14}}
Independent Transport safety investigator.

{{00:05:17}}
We work in collaboration with the
ATSB which is the Australian Transport

{{00:05:21}}
Safety Bureau and also the chief
Investigator Transport Safety Victoria.

{{00:05:26}}
Between the three agencies, we have a
collaboration agreement and what we're

{{00:05:29}}
interested in doing is looking at the
risks and issues that are faced by the

{{00:05:33}}
rail industry and how our independent
investigation might help people understand

{{00:05:37}}
why certain things are happening and
therefore if we can get to the heart

{{00:05:40}}
of why things happen, you can start
to understand better how to improve.

{{00:05:44}}
As an independent investigator,
we're not an operator.

{{00:05:47}}
We don't have solutions necessarily,
but we can really focus in on the

{{00:05:51}}
why and doing that really thorough,
deep down investigation that's

{{00:05:55}}
gonna help the industry to improve
the way it managed risk safety.

{{00:05:58}}
So that's our main focus.

{{00:06:01}}
The two things that we are trying to
do is, one, increase our own capability

{{00:06:05}}
and the understanding of risk by
expanding our ability to analyze data

{{00:06:10}}
and come up with trends and issues.

{{00:06:12}}
And then the other thing that we're
doing is trying to move away from just

{{00:06:16}}
investigating incidents and occurrences.

{{00:06:18}}
To looking at how do we do a deep dive
into certain topics or risks and get

{{00:06:23}}
to the understanding of how those risks
are impacting our rail operations and

{{00:06:28}}
what information we can share with
the industry so that they can use that

{{00:06:31}}
to then improve safety going forward.

I'm the Chief investigator at the Office
of Transport Safety Investigations,

which is New South Wales Independent
Transport Safety Investigator.

Safety mangement systems and risks:
Main rail safety issues in Australia

Look, the main rail safety issues in
Australia sort of probably vary depending

upon where you are, whether you're a
passenger operator or a freight operator.

But some of the key things
that we are trying to deal with

There's obviously the skill shortage,
which everybody is feeling as a

result of an aging population and
also as a result of the pandemic.

And I think the third area is just
around competency training and

assessment and how you get the right
people in the right roles with the

And these are sort of three, three things
that everybody in the rail industry is

probably facing regardless of whether
they do freight or passenger operations.

Safety mangement systems
and risks: Key elements to a

So the key elements of a safety
management system are set out in a

So the rail safety national law lists
the sorts of elements that should be in

a safety management system, and there's
plenty of guidance material from a range

of private and public sector operators
that talk about safety management

I think the important thing about a
safety management system is really to

understand that it's, it's a product
of your risk management approach.

So it's about understanding your
operations and the risks that

your operation faces, making sure
you bring in the right people

So they've got the right skills,
knowledge, understanding of your

operating environment that helps to
identify what the key risk side that

you face, and also possibly ways in
which you can manage those risks.

And your safety management systems should
really be a product of that process.

It captures all of those things
that you identify as ways in which

you could manage the risk to safety
that arise from your operations.

Gaps in the current Rail
Safety Management Systems

Some of the gaps and weaknesses of
systems that we see at OTSI through

our independent investigation often
around people really understanding

how new technologies are going to
impact their operating environment.

And therefore, what are the risks
that need to be addressed when you're

introducing new technologies, particularly
in relation to understanding what that

technology is replacing and whether you've
done sufficient risk assessment around it.

And also how you actually train people
or explain to them how to use these

new technologies in the way in which
they're operating, in the field.

I think another area that we notice
through our investigations is just making

sure that there is that constant review
of the control measures that you have in

place and talking about them and making
sure, that any new information that

comes about how to manage risk or any new
technologies or other sorts of things that

might help you to manage that risk, that
they're brought into those discussions.

And so you can tweak your safety
management system and its controls, as

Role of data analysis and technology
to indentify safety risks and

The benefits of doing data
analysis and also looking at

The data analysis does a number
of things, particularly these days

So you can have a look at
a whole lot of dataset.

That give you from
historical sorts of events.

And that gives you a sense of sort of
what's gone wrong in the past, what

With new technologies that gives you
an opportunity to look forward, what is

it that we could do differently to the
way in which we manage those risks now.

How can we use technologies to
address human factors issues?

Because we all know there are
performance limits of humans.

So constantly relying on PPE or people
following procedures and processes,

technology gives us an opportunity to
look at how we take the human element

out and therefore how we manage that
risk in a slightly different way.

So the combination of having the data
that gives you some of your understanding

from the past of risk and technologies
that might help you look for the future,

Those two things coming to give you are
quite powerful in understanding how you

can improve your safety management system
and the management of risks overall.

Office of transport safety investigations
priorities and planning initiatives

So the Office of Transport Safety
Investigations is New South Wales

Independent Transport safety investigator.

We work in collaboration with the
ATSB which is the Australian Transport

Safety Bureau and also the chief
Investigator Transport Safety Victoria.

Between the three agencies, we have a
collaboration agreement and what we're

interested in doing is looking at the
risks and issues that are faced by the

rail industry and how our independent
investigation might help people understand

why certain things are happening and
therefore if we can get to the heart

of why things happen, you can start
to understand better how to improve.

As an independent investigator,
we're not an operator.

We don't have solutions necessarily,
but we can really focus in on the

why and doing that really thorough,
deep down investigation that's

gonna help the industry to improve
the way it managed risk safety.

The two things that we are trying to
do is, one, increase our own capability

and the understanding of risk by
expanding our ability to analyze data

And then the other thing that we're
doing is trying to move away from just

To looking at how do we do a deep dive
into certain topics or risks and get

to the understanding of how those risks
are impacting our rail operations and

what information we can share with
the industry so that they can use that

Rail Safety

Expert Insight

Natalie Pelham highlights the importance of interoperability, competency training and assessment, and managing risks associated with new technologies. Watch to learn more about data analysis and technology to identify safety risks and outcomes and talks about the priorities and planning initiatives of the Office of Transport Safety Investigations.