The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Britain’s chief railway regulator, has launched an innovative virtual learning platform that aims to teach health and safety professionals how to use the industry’s Risk Management Maturity Model.
The Maturity Model, known primarily as RM3, was developed by the ORR in 2019 as a tool to aid organisations in the management of health and safety risks, as well as identifying the key areas for improvements. This model operates by a year-on-year comparison structure which enables consistent reviews and comparison to identify exact areas for development.
ORR’s HM Chief Inspector of Railways Ian Prosser CBE said:
“We developed RM3 as a tool to help the rail industry’s ability to manage health and safety risks and to identify areas for continuous improvement to help keep Britain’s railway as one of the safest in Europe.”
The brand-new e-learning platform, that was released on the 29th June, incorporates two modules which caters towards instructing users on how to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the RM3 model works and how to best implement it within an existing organisation. Each module will have accompanying videos which provide examples of the RM3’s usage within the rail industry and how to conduct effective assessments.
The modules are outlined below:
- The first module focuses on RM3 and how it works with an organisation’s Safety Management System.
- The second module will support professionals in understanding how to use RM3, obtain the necessary evidence and conduct assessments to help them assess the maturity level of their organisation against the 26 RM3 criteria.
Rupert Lown, Network Rail’s Chief Health, Safety & Wellbeing Officer, said:
“Running a safe mainline railway is crucially important. RM3 is the methodology we use for assessing health and safety performance and helping to identify areas for improvement.”
The ORR’s e-learning programme has been designed by Premier IT and is in collaboration with industry professionals across the railway, seeing the likes of Network Rail, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board (LRSSB), East Midlands Railway, and Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) coming together.
Ed Hodson, Chair of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s Railway Group, said:
“We’ve been pleased to have been able to support the continued development of RM3. The Office of Rail and Road has made RM3 widely accessible across the rail industry, through the introductory training module.
“We look forward to supporting the industry further in the drive for excellence in safety management systems on our rail network.”
The virtual learning platform provided by the ORR will help to create unified industry standards regarding safety protocols and enhance the understanding of their implementation. Operators and companies within the industry should seek to take advantage of the new system to ensure staff and passenger safety in every department.
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