25.10.18
New framework announced for measuring the impact UK rail has on society and sustainability
The RSSB has developed a new framework which can measure the social value of the UK’s railway.
Through the new ‘Common Social Impact Framework for Rail’ (CSIF), the safety board has developed a way to measure the societal impact of the UK rail industry.
The RSSB has worked on this research with Action Sustainability, ARUP and Simetrica, bringing together a range of monetised, quantifiable and qualitative measures.
It says that sustainability is becoming increasingly embedded within the rail industry, which makes it “important that a consistent approach for a whole rail industry” is now introduced for social value and measuring it.
Until now, the RSSB says it couldn’t clearly demonstrate the value of rail and the impact it has on society, communities and the people it serves.
The rail industry currently has numerous economic performance measures and is improving how it measures its environmental performance, but “social sustainability is lagging behind and has limited metrics.”
The Rail Carbon Tool is now commonly used to access the carbon emissions of a rail project, and the RSSB’s statement says the next step is introducing a consistent approach for social value for the whole rail industry.
Anthony Perret, the head of sustainable development program, said: “Social value is a key element of what the UK rail industry brings to the country.
“It is increasingly important that we develop a way of measuring this, in terms of reporting value to local stakeholders, the communities in which we work, and our customers. And also, to industry funders such as the DfT.”
The RSSB say it hopes to see the framework being used by the whole UK rail industry and wants to see the CSIF providing structure for the rail industry to do more in terms of serving customers and communities .
On the Wessex Alliance project, the sustainability manager for Skanska, Peter Ives, has used the CSIF to engage the wider project team and called the framework “an opportunity to start reporting social value on a much more consistent basis.”
Network Rail are also planning to use the CSIF framework to develop a user-friendly tool so they can start to better measure the social value of their operations.
Top image: georgeclerk
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