George Bearfield, Rock Rail Director of Health and Safety
Along with the Chief Inspector of Railways, Ian Prosser, Network Rail’s Director of Regulatory Liaison, Allan Spence, and RSSB’s Head of Health and Safety Management, Dr Ann Mills, George provided some of his insights and experience of setting cross-industry health and safety strategy and leading the delivery of cross-industry programmes.
Speaking after the event, George, who is also a visiting Professor at the University of Huddersfield, said, “I really enjoyed the opportunity to engage with so many of the next generation of rail safety professionals and leaders. With the recasting of the rail health and safety strategy this year by RSSB, there is an opportunity to refocus on our shared efforts in challenging times for the industry. The railway needs talented individuals taking on this essential work – and those of us already in the industry need their fresh thinking and challenge.
“Safety is a key focus for Rock Rail and we are pleased to be able to provide our support to the MSc programme and to the future leaders of our industry, who come from all parts of the world.”
The Railway Safety and Control Systems Masters programme covers a comprehensive agenda including railway risk and safety systems, operations and organisation, and communications and control (including signalling). It is delivered jointly by the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) at the University of Birmingham and the High Integrity Systems Engineering (HISE) Group at the University of York.
In thanking George and the other industry leaders for their contribution, Professor Anson Jack from the University of Birmingham who is the module lead, said “it was a pleasure to welcome so many distinguished and experienced industry leaders. Our students, most of whom were actually located in Asia and the Middle East, really value the input of current practitioners and leaders. These people will move on to leading railway systems across the world and the input they received today represents the very best grounding for safety leadership that is available anywhere”
