Improving safety in maintenance of the railway system by reducing latent errors – a way forward?

The company INFRANORD AB in Sweden works with production and maintenance of the railway system in Sweden. Risks and violations of safety rules have been observed by the organisation and a project was started 2010 with the aim to improve safety. The project was led by researchers from Luleå University of Technology and was based on the Tripod-Delta method, an established proactive safety philosophy. The results of the project were followed up two years later, in 2012. Improvements in the design of equipment were reported, as well as a positive tendency for the quality and safety of maintenance activities. The quality of communication was reported as being improved, incident reporting increased slightly and accidents decreased. On the negative side, a decrease in efficiency was reported. The results were interpreted as a positive trend towards a safety culture. A number of factors beside the project may have had an impact on the results in the 2012 follow up study.