Organisational Dynamics and Safety Culture in UK Train Operating Companies: Health and Safety Executive Research Report 421

This research addresses recommendations relating to issues of safety culture and climate contained in recent public inquiry reports into the major accident at Ladbroke Grove (Cullen, 2001) and railway safety more generally (Uff & Cullen, 2000). The project explores the range and nature of variables impacting upon safety culture within Train Operating Companies (TOCs) in Great Britain. Prior to this work there had been no formal mapping of the corporate motivations engendered by the contractual and structural arrangements that have accompanied the railway privatisation process begun in 1993, or how these arrangements might impact upon the behaviour and safety culture of railway sector business and their staff. Safety culture has been variously defined in the literature, but very broadly involves the norms, beliefs, roles, and practices for handling hazards and risks’ (Pidgeon, 1991). The research was designed to provide a detailed insight into this highly complex issue.

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