The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005
| Year | 2005 |
2005 No. 1992
TRANSPORTHEALTH AND SAFETY
The Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005
Made 19th July 2005
Laid before Parliament 20th July 2005
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to measures relating to railways and railway transport, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by that subsection and in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 2, 6, 7(1), 9, 11 and 13(1) of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 20033hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation and commencement
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005.
(2) These Regulations shall come into force—
(a)
(a) on 17th October 2005 in relation to the whole of the United Kingdom except the Channel Tunnel system, in so far as it forms part of the United Kingdom; and
(b)
(b) on 31st January 2006 in relation to the Channel Tunnel system, in so far as it forms part of the United Kingdom.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the 2003 Act” means the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003;
“accident” means a railway accident;
“the Branch” means the Rail Accident Investigation Branch;
“carriageway” means a way over which there is a public right of passage for motor vehicles;
“Channel Tunnel system” has the meaning given by section 1(7) of the Channel Tunnel Act 19874to the words “the tunnel system”;
“Chief Inspector” means the Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents appointed under section 3(2) of the 2003 Act;
“constable” means any person who is—
(a) a member or special constable of any police force who has been attested as a constable under section 29 of the Police Act 19965or declared a constable under section 16 of the Police (Scotland) Act 19676; or
(b) a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland or the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve;
“dangerous goods” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 20047;
“European Railway Agency” means the agency for railway safety and interoperability established by Regulation (EC) No 881/2004of the European Parliament and the Council of 29th April 2004 establishing a European Railway Agency8;
“evidence” means anything involved in or relating to an accident or incident, whether at the site of the accident or incident or remote from it, including—
(a) written, electronic, photographic or other records;
(b) electronic or recording equipment;
(c) rolling stock, infrastructure, equipment and signalling systems;
(d) any personal, personnel, medical or other similar record or document; and
(e) anything else that an inspector identifies to—
(i) an owner of railway property;
(ii) a railway industry body; or
(iii) a manufacturer or supplier of equipment, components or services to an owner of railway property or to a railway industry body,
as being relevant to the accident or incident;
“extensive damage” means damage that can immediately be assessed by the Branch to cost at least 2 million Euros in total;
“incident” means a railway incident;
“infrastructure” means railway infrastructure;
“infrastructure manager” means any person who is responsible for establishing and maintaining infrastructure or a part thereof, which may also include the management of infrastructure control and safety systems, but does not include a maintainer;
“inspector” means a person appointed as an inspector of rail accidents under section 3(1) of the 2003 Act;
“Intergovernmental Commission” has the meaning given to those words by section 49 of the Channel Tunnel Act 1987;
“level crossing” means any place where a railway crosses on a level a highway or other road or passageway, whether or not there is public access to such land;
“maintainer” means a person who maintains, repairs or renews railway property or constructs new works in relation to railway property;
“motor vehicle” has the meaning given by section 185 of the Road Traffic Act 19889;
“railway” means a railway or tramway within the meaning given by section 67 of the Transport and Works Act 199210;
“railway accident” and “railway incident” have the meanings given in section 2(1) of the 2003 Act;
“railway industry body” means a person who is an infrastructure manager, a railway undertaking, a maintainer or an operator of rolling stock or railway assets;
“railway property” has the meaning given in section 1(1) of the 2003 Act;
“running line” means a railway line which is not a siding and is ordinarily used for the passage of trains or tramcars;
“safety authority”—
(a) in relation to Great Britain, excluding the Channel Tunnel system, means the Health and Safety Executive;
(b) in relation to Northern Ireland, means the Department for Regional Development; and
(c) in relation to the Channel Tunnel system, means the Intergovernmental Commission; and
“Safety Directive” means Directive 2004/49/ECof the European Parliament and the Council of 29th April 2004 on safety on the Community’s railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/ECon the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001/14/ECon the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification11.
(2) The following words have the meaning given to them in section 83 of the Railways Act 199312or the meaning which would be given to them by an equivalent definition in relation to a tramway—
(a)
(a) operator;
(b)
(b) railway asset;
(c)
(c) railway services;
(d)
(d) rolling stock;
(e)
(e) station;
(f)
(f) track; and
(g)
(g) train.
(3) “Serious accident” means an accident involving a derailment or collision of rolling stock which has an obvious impact on railway safety regulation or management of safety and includes such an accident that results in—
(a)
(a) the death of at least one person;
(b)
(b) serious injuries to five or more persons; or
(c)
(c) extensive damage to rolling stock, the infrastructure or the environment.
(4) “Serious injury” includes—
(a)
(a) a fracture other than to fingers, thumbs or toes;
(b)
(b) amputation;
(c)
(c) dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine;
(d)
(d) loss of sight, whether temporary or permanent, in one or both eyes;
(e)
(e) a chemical or hot metal burn or any penetrating injury to one or both eyes;
(f)
(f) an injury leading to hypothermia or heat-induced illness;
(g)
(g) an injury requiring resuscitation of the injured person;
(h)
(h) an injury requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
(i)
(i) an injury directly leading to loss of consciousness; or
(j)
(j) an injury resulting from the absorption of a substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin that causes acute illness requiring medical treatment.
(5) Any expression used both in these Regulations and the Safety Directive and not otherwise defined in these Regulations has the same meaning for the purposes of these Regulations as it has for the purposes of the Safety Directive.
Accidents and incidents excluded from the application of Part 1 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003
3.—(1) An accident or incident that occurs within an industrial curtilage shall not be treated as an accident or incident for the purposes of Part 1 of the 2003 Act except where the accident or incident—
(a)
(a) involves a train being used within an industrial curtilage for the purpose of carrying passengers for reward; or
(b)
(b) occurs on track that—
(i) is not used for any purpose connected with the industrial activity within that curtilage other than to facilitate the entry to or exit from that curtilage; or
(ii) is directly controlled or operated by the person who controls or operates the railway outside the industrial curtilage to which the track within the curtilage is connected.
(2) An accident or incident that occurs on a railway which is operated by a cable haulage system and has a track of a length not exceeding 1 kilometre shall not be treated as an accident or incident for the purposes of Part 1 of the 2003 Act.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4), an accident or incident that occurs on a railway, no part of which crosses a carriageway (whether or not at the same level), shall not be treated as an accident or incident for the purposes of Part 1 of the 2003 Act.
(4) Paragraph (3) shall not apply to an accident or incident occurring on a railway operated by a cable haulage system that is not excluded under paragraph (2).
(5) In this regulation—
(a)
(a) “factory” means a factory within the meaning of section 175 of the Factories Act 196113and premises to which section 123(1) or (2) or 125(1) of that Act apply unless such premises are used for the purposes of inspection, servicing, maintenance or repair (excluding construction or re-construction) of railway property;
(b)
(b) “industrial curtilage” means a curtilage of a harbour, freight terminal, mine, quarry or factory;
(c)
(c) “mine” has the same meaning as in section 180 of the Mines and Quarries Act 195414; and
(d)
(d) “quarry” has the same meaning as in regulation 3 of the Quarries Regulations 199915.
Duty to notify the Rail Accident Investigation Branch of accidents and incidents
4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (6), a railway industry body whose property or staff have been involved in an accident or incident of a type listed in Schedule 1 on a railway or on railway property other than within the Channel Tunnel system shall notify the Branch of its occurrence immediately it learns of the occurrence and by the quickest means available.
(2) Subject to paragraph (6), a railway industry body whose property or staff have been involved in an accident or incident of a...
To continue reading
Request your trial