Re: Derailment at Concort West - Reason

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

Irrespective of who or what is to blame for this accident , all employers are 
legally obliged under the Occupational Health & Safety provisions to provide a 
safe working environment for their employers.
One of the findings of the accident into the Beresfield Accident was that 
although the accident was probably caused by the driver being asleep , a major 
contributing factor was that the safeworking system in place failed to do 
anything to prevent the accident.
Indeed going back  just a few years and looking at the history of train 
accidents like
The Cowan Bank crash.
The Hines Hill crash.
The Mt Christie head On.
Beresfield.
And the current accident , in all cases the safeworking systems in place did 
absolutely nothing to prevent or even warn the drivers of any impending 
problem.
It may have been a reasonable excuse 20 years ago , for railway 
administrations to argue that there was nothing they could do to implement any 
form of ATC systems for trains , but today there is no excuse whatever.
As drivers are being called upon to work longer & longer hours and to drive 
trains with only one driver,the obligation is now on the railway employers to 
provide a safe working environment for their staff.
Its simply no excuse to argue that its too expensive.

MD