8.3 Reporting Your Concerns: Close Calls, CIRAS & Statutory Reporting

8.3 Reporting Your Concerns: Close Calls, CIRAS & Statutory Reporting

The contemporary rail industry recognizes that major railway disasters do not happen in isolation. Catastrophic collisions, derailments, and workforce fatalities are almost invariably preceded by dozens of unaddressed unsafe behaviors, equipment defects, and minor precursor events. Proactive safety cultures aim to catch hazards at the bottom of the pyramid—before blood is spilled on the ballast.

For anyone working trackside with Personal Track Safety (PTS) certification, safety is not merely about obeying rules when a supervisor is watching. It requires an active commitment to hazard identification, confidential whistleblowing when necessary, and transparent cooperation with statutory incident investigations.

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The Architecture of Railway Safety Culture

Historically, the railway industry suffered from a punitive "blame culture." If an incident occurred, management sought an individual to reprimand or dismiss. The fatal flaw of a blame culture is that workers hide errors, cover up near-misses, and conceal hazards out of fear of disciplinary action or losing their sponsorship.

Modern railway management has transitioned to a Just Culture. In a Just Culture:

• A clear distinction is drawn between honest human error (slips, lapses, system-induced mistakes) and gross willful misconduct (such as attending work under the influence of drugs or intentionally bypassing safety interlocks).
• Personnel are actively empowered and expected to challenge unsafe practices, report defects, and halt work without fear of recrimination.

                        HEINRICH'S ACCIDENT TRIANGLE (1931)
                                  /\
                                 /  \
                                / 1  \       <-- Major injury
                               /------\
                              /   29   \     <-- Minor injuries
                             /----------\
                            /    300     \   <-- Accidents with no injury
                           /--------------\
                     Close calls and unsafe acts sit beneath all of these

H. W. Heinrich's accident triangle, published in 1931, suggested that for every 1 major injury there were about 29 minor injuries and 300 accidents with no injury. The exact numbers come from industrial data of the time and are not a railway statistic, but the idea is useful: serious accidents sit on top of a much larger number of minor events, near misses and unsafe conditions.

• If an organisation only investigates the serious accidents, it acts too late.
• Reporting close calls lets the hazard be fixed before someone is hurt.

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Defining the Incident Hierarchy: Accident, Near Miss & Close Call

These terms are used across the industry to describe safety occurrences according to whether harm occurred, whether an event happened, or whether a hazard was spotted before anything happened:

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The Network Rail Close Call Reporting System

Close call reporting is Network Rail's main route for reporting unsafe conditions and behaviours on its infrastructure, alongside each employer's own reporting systems.

How to Report a Close Call

The PTS handbook says that to raise a close call that requires Network Rail's attention, use the "Safety Events" app (for Network Rail users) or the web portal (for external users). Full details are on Network Rail's Safety Central website. Your own employer will also have its internal reporting routes.

What to Do First

The PTS handbook's rule for reporting your concerns is: if there's a safety issue, don't keep it to yourself.

• Take action straight away if you see someone acting in a way that is a danger to themselves or the railway. If you can speak to the person and get them to stop, do so.
• Otherwise, report them to your supervisor or the signaller, whichever is quickest.
• If a hazard can be made safe on the spot without putting yourself at risk, such as closing an open access gate, do so and still report it.

A Fair Culture

Close call reporting only works if people are not punished for honest reporting. Network Rail applies a Fair Culture approach, which separates honest mistakes and system failures from deliberate rule-breaking, and the Sentinel Scheme Rules require investigations to follow a fair culture process. Reporting a hazard in good faith is what you are expected to do.

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CIRAS: Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis System

While internal systems like Close Call are effective, situations arise where workers feel uncomfortable reporting through standard company channels. An individual might fear commercial retaliation from their employer, loss of shifts from a sub-contractor agency, or direct bullying from a site supervisor.

For these situations, the rail industry provides CIRAS (Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System).

   [ WORKER IDENTIFIES HAZARD ]
                │
                ├─────────────────────────────┐
                ▼                             ▼
       Internal Channel              Fear of Reprisal / Systemic Failure
       (Close Call App / Manager)            │
                │                             ▼
                │                    [ CONTACT CIRAS ]
                │                    (Phone, App, Web Form)
                │                             │
                │                             ▼
                │                    CIRAS In-Depth Interview
                │                    IDENTITY COMPLETELY STRIPPED
                │                             │
                │                             ▼
                │                    De-identified Report Sent
                │                    to the Member Organisation
                │                             │
                ▼                             ▼
         [ Local Fix ]             [ Written Response to CIRAS    ]

Background and Independent Status

• What it is: the PTS handbook describes CIRAS as the confidential safety hotline for the rail industry. Whoever you are, you can contact it with a potential safety issue and it will send a report to the right people while protecting your identity. It is run by RSSB and works closely with its member organisations.
• Contact: report hotline (UK) freephone 0800 0850 449, Freepost CIRAS, or online through the CIRAS website.
• Sponsors: the Sentinel Scheme Rules require every sponsor to be a member of an independent and confidential industry reporting service and to tell sponsored individuals how to access it.

The CIRAS Confidentiality Guarantee

• Confidentiality: When a worker contacts CIRAS, a CIRAS team member talks the concern through in confidence. Details that could identify the reporter, such as names, gang numbers or exact locations, are removed before the report is shared.
• The Response: CIRAS sends the de-identified report to the relevant member organisation, which investigates and provides a written response describing what it will do.
• Closing the Loop: CIRAS reviews the company's response and shares the outcome directly with the original reporter.

When Should You Contact CIRAS?

CIRAS fits alongside your other reporting channels (your health and safety team or representative, close call reporting, Speak Out and company internal channels). The PTS handbook says your first step should be to tell your supervisor, line manager or sponsor; if that isn't possible, you can contact CIRAS. You can also use CIRAS to raise concerns about another company other than your employer. Track personnel should consider CIRAS when:

1. Internal reporting channels have been tried, but the hazard has been ignored or not put right.
2. You fear that reporting the issue directly will lead to victimization, loss of shifts, disciplinary action, or commercial blacklisting.
3. The safety issue involves industry-wide systemic flaws, dangerous fatigue roster patterns, or supply-chain pressures that transcend a single worksite.

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Statutory Reporting Obligations: RIDDOR & RAIB

Beyond voluntary and confidential reporting systems, UK statutory legislation imposes legal duties to report serious accidents and dangerous occurrences to government bodies.

1. RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013)

RIDDOR is a statutory legal regulation enforced by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). It places a legal duty on employers, contractors, and infrastructure managers to report specified workplace events:

• Work-Related Fatalities: Any death of a worker or member of the public resulting from a work-related rail incident.
• Specified Major Injuries: Fractures (other than to fingers, thumbs, and toes); amputations; loss of sight; crush injuries causing damage to internal organs; serious burns covering more than 10% of the body; loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia.
• Over-7-Day Incapacitation: When an employee or contractor is incapacitated from performing their normal work duties for more than seven consecutive days following a workplace injury.
• Occupational Diseases: Severe conditions contracted through railway work, including Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), carpal tunnel syndrome, or occupational dermatitis.
• Dangerous Occurrences: Specified events with a high potential to cause death or serious injury, including certain railway events such as collisions and derailments, and general events such as the collapse or overturning of lifting equipment.

2. RAIB (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is the UK government's independent railway accident investigation organization, established under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003. Like the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), it sits within the Department for Transport but investigates independently of the railway industry and its regulator.

   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │                   THE STATUTORY REMIT OF RAIB                   │
   ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │  • INDEPENDENT: Operates outside Network Rail, ORR, and Police   │
   │  • OBJECTIVE: Determines technical, human, and systemic causes  │
   │  • NO BLAME: Never apportions blame, fault, or civil liability   │
   │  • RECOMMENDATIONS: Publishes public reports to prevent recur-   │
   │                     rence across the national rail industry     │
   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Working with RAIB Inspectors: Rules for Track Workers

When an incident falls within RAIB's jurisdiction:

1. Evidence Preservation: The incident scene must be treated as a forensic site. Track workers must never disturb, move, or clean wreckage, tools, track fastenings, or equipment unless strictly necessary to rescue trapped casualties or prevent imminent life loss.
2. Honesty: Give full and honest accounts to investigators. RAIB has legal powers to obtain evidence, and because its purpose is to improve safety rather than to apportion blame, open accounts help it find the real causes.
3. Surrender of Documentation: All records—including the Safe System of Work pack, RT9909 briefing sheets, machine logs, and shift rosters—must be preserved intact without alteration.