Hello Barry, Good in theory, difficult in practice=2E The "Regulatory" body, i=2Ee=2E Her Majetsy's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) = is not interested in gauges less than 15" (maybe 10=2E25", I can't remember a= nd being in Japan at the moment, my reference naterial is about 5000 miles away!) HSE "may" be interested if there is an accident, but there is still no requirement to file a "formal" report=2E As a professional safety engineer (working in 12"/foot) I have approached = a national society/association in the past (they will remain nameless!) to offer (free) specialist advice to miniature railways, but it was politely refused=2E I still get the feeling that a number of societies are perform= ing Risk Assessments because they "have to" and see it as an imposition from the "safety police" and not because they understand the benefits a proper Risk Assessment can bring in terms of understanding the railway and how they can make it safer=2E As a first step I would be interested in seeing other socities Hazard Logs= and Risk Assessmenst, I think that we may have a lot to learn from each other with those first=2E Secondly we should share sanitised "accident or= incident" (near miss!) reports=2E These should reflect the safety shortcoming and how it was rectified, not allocate blame to any one person= =2E I have written RAs for many miniature railways, however to start the ball rolling I am more than happy to supply the Hazard Log and Risk Assessment for the Lackham Museum and Woodland Railway to whoever is interested=2E M= y RA shows the change in hazards and risk as we moved fronm an "up and back"= to a continuous circuit, added points and signals etc=2E People see Hazard Logs and Risk Asessments as a necessary evil, they are i= n fact a very powerful tool (and simple to use) for people and societies who= wish to show that they have used "due dilligence" in the design, build operation and maintenance of their miniature railway whether it is private= or public 3=2E5", 5" or 7=2E25"=2E Cheers Peter (Jet lagged in Tokyo, landed 4 hours ago!)=20 Original Message: ----------------- From: Barrie Purslow bpduo@gotadsl=2Eco=2Euk Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 11:37:35 +0100 To: modeleng@freelists=2Eorg Subject: [modeleng] Accidents I've never understood why there is no formal procedure for reporting accidents in the model engineering world=2E I refer particularly to our miniature railway operations where we are carrying fare paying members of the public=2E We all know that accidents happen but I have never seen a formal report of any of these accidents=2E How are we supposed to learn fr= om them if we are not told what has happened=3F Surely there is a job here fo= r our national associations=3F Don't anybody tell me it ain't possible - I've just retired from 30 years of gliding where every accident is investigated and the details published for all to read and learn=2E The same is true for the power flying world=2E= Maybe it's different in other countries=3F Barrie Purslow Warrington UK MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST=2E To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to,=20 modeleng-request@freelists=2Eorg with the word "unsubscribe" in the subjec= t line=2E -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web=2Ecom/ =2E MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.