Network Rail presided over 'culture of fear', inquiry finds

Network Rail presided over a "culture of fear" that led to the under-reporting of staff accidents, an inquiry has found, but the owner of Britain's rail infrastructure has been cleared of suppressing safety breaches in order to hit bonus targets. The independent Rail Safety and Standards Board estimated that up to 600 so-called "riddor" incidents were not reported between 2005 and 2010 due to pressure from Network Rail. Riddor stands for reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations and the investigation focused on minor accidents that kept staff off work for more than three days. The RSSB found the worst examples of pressure on reporting accidents among contractors, with many describing a culture of fear over the loss of further contracting work. However, the report said there was no link between driving down accident reports and the multimillion pound bonuses received by Network Rail directors – including a shared bonus pot of more than £2.3m last year. The RSSB said the under-reporting was more the product of an overly zealous safety culture. "There was no suggestion from anyone involved that there was a connection with the bonus system," said Len Porter, chief executive of the RSSB. Rick Haythornthwaite, the Network Rail chairman, who called in the RSSB, said that Network Rail would be "far more transparent" in the wake of the departure of Iain Coucher, the company's former chief executive. "It has been very centralised, command and control, and rules-based and that has been instrumental in delivering improvements. But there have been undesirable side-effects." Bob Rixham, the Unite trade union officer who helped highlight the riddor concerns, said: "Network Rail and the industry must now admit to themselves how bad the situation had become, and only then can the industry move forward"