Pedestrian Accidents at Level Crossings

Ref: HPHS-7M5D47

Dear Mr Perrin,

Thank you for your request for information.

Your enquiry has been forwarded to the New Regulating Authority for
Britain's railways - the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). Their contact
details are as follows.

Office of Rail Regulation

1 Kemble Street

London

WC2B 4AN

Tel: 020 7282 2000

Fax: 020 7282 2040

Email: [email address]

Web: [1]http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/

If you require to contact HSE again regarding this enquiry please quote
the above reference number.

I hope this helps, but if you require further assistance, please do not
hesitate to contact this address again or telephone HSE Infoline on 08453
450055.

Yours sincerely

Helena Phillips

HSE Infoline

HSE is committed to maintaining your personal information in a manner
that meets the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Sometimes, we may need to pass your details to another government
department or public body so that they can help you with your enquiry.

HSE Infoline is provided by Connaught Compliance Services Ltd on behalf of
HSE

References

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1. http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Perrin

Thank you for your e-mail of 8th December 2008 to HSE's InfoLine,
requesting information on pedestrian accidents at level crossings for the
last five years.

Your request was forwarded onto the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to
answer has ORR enforce health and safety legislation on Britain's
railways. I am handling your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA 2000). From our preliminary assessment, it is
clear that we will not be able to answer your request without further
clarification

Accidents on the railway are reported to ORR under the Reporting of
Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (1995).
Injuries to people are subdivided into the following casualty categories:

Railway employees and contractors.

Passengers (people who have a valid ticket to travel).

People on business (people who are not intending to travel but have a
valid right to be on railway infrastructure - e.g. level crossing users,
seeing family/friends off at Stations).

Trespassers (people who venture onto a part of the railway where they have
no right to be).

Suicides.

Our coding of casualty categories in relation to railway fatalities is
dependant on the outcome of Coroners findings. You have requested all
pedestrian accidents and fatalities resulting from the misuse of level
crossings in the past five years. I have interpreted your request that
this would cover all injuries to pedestrian trespassers at level
crossings, including confirmed suicides and attempted suicides. For
example if a person ignores the barriers at a level crossing, jumps over
the barriers, then they have misused the crossing, ventured onto a part of
the railway where they had no right to be and therefore are trespassing. I
would therefore be grateful if you can confirm that that my interpretation
of the information you are seeking is correct.

Once you have clarified your request, I will be able to begin to process
your request. If I do not receive clarification within three months your
request will be considered to have lapsed. (Under section 1(3) of the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a public authority need not comply with
a request unless any further information reasonably required to locate the
information is supplied).

If you have any queries please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Paul Wilkinson
Senior Executive
Office of Rail Regulation
Customer Correspondence Team
One Kemble Street
London WC2B 4AN

Telephone 0207 282 2018
Fax 0207 282 2043
e-mail [1][email address]
web: [2]www.rail-reg.gov.uk

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Perrin

Thank you for the clarification of your freedom of information request.

We aim to respond to all such requests within 20 working days of
receipt.

A full response will be sent to you no later than the 8th January 2009.

Yours sincerely

Paul Wilkinson
Senior Executive
Office of Rail Regulation
Customer Correspondence Team
One Kemble Street
London WC2B 4AN

Telephone 0207 282 2018
Fax 0207 282 2043
e-mail [email address]
web: www.rail-reg.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Perrin

I write further to your e-mail of 11th December 2008. in relation to
your request for level crossing accident data for the last five years.

I am handling your request under the terms of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOIA 2000).

Please find attached two spreadsheets covering:

a) All fatalities at level crossings for the period 1st January 2003 to
31st December 2007.

b) All reportable injuries at level crossings for the same period.

Each spreadsheet lists the date, time, location, level crossing type,
casualty category (CASCODE) and age of the injured person. Please note
that in some cases the age is not shown, because the details were not
recorded on the original accident notification form, and no return has
been received from HM Coroners following the inquest.

The categories of types of level crossings listed are:

Unprotected Crossings:

FP Footpath Crossing
OC Open Crossing
UWG User Worked gates/barriers no telephone
UWGT User Worked gates/barriers with telephone
SC Staff barrow crossing

Protected Crossings

TWG Trainman worked gates
TWB Trainman worked barriers
MWL Miniature Warning Lights
MCG Manually controlled gates - no signals
MCGS Manually controlled gates - signals
MCB Manually controlled barriers
CCTV Barriers viewed by close circuit TV
AOCL Automatic open crossing locally monitored
AOCR Automatic open crossing remotely monitored
AHB Automatic half barrier
ABCL Automatic barrier crossing locally monitored
CW Staff barrow crossing with warning

One other omission is in relation to the injury data for members of the
public (hospital treatment)involved in the major train accident at Ufton
Level Crossing, Berkshire in November 2004. Thirty Seven people were
taken to hospital for treatment, however the individual casualty details
for these people, were not recorded in our accident database.

Further information on level crossing accident data can be found in our
Annual Reports on Railway Safety, which are available on our website at:

http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/n...

Should you have any further queries please contact me. If you are
dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to
ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted
within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original e-mail and should be addressed to the Directors' Group of ORR.
They can be contacted, via Shamus Kenny, at ORR, One Kemble Street,
London WC2B 4AN, Fax: 020 7282 2154, e-mail
shamus.kenny@orr,gsi.gov.uk.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner (IC) for a decision. Generally
the IC cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by ORR. The Information Commissioner can be contacted
at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Yours sincerely

Paul Wilkinson
Senior Executive
Customer Correspondence Team
Office of Rail Regulation
One Kemble Street
London WC2B 4AN

Telephone 0207 282 2018
Fax 0207 282 2043
e-mail [email address]
web: www.rail-reg.gov.uk

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