Rail Accident Investigation Branch
 |
|
| Formation | 17 October 2005 |
|---|---|
| Type | Government Agency |
| Location | |
|
Chief Inspector
|
Simon French |
|
Staff
|
44 (including 26 inspectors) |
| Website | http://www.gov.uk/raib |
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required by law to investigate accidents causing death, serious injuries or extensive damage. It also has authority to investigate incidents that could have resulted in accidents. It currently has two bases — Derby and Farnborough — to allow it to respond quickly to accidents.
The Cullen Report into the Ladbroke Grove rail crash in 1999 recommended the establishment of an accident investigation body within the Department for Transport along the same lines as the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Air Accident Investigation Branch, bodies that have distinguished themselves by their professionalism and objectivity.
In 2003 Parliament legislated — in the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 — to create the RAIB as an independent body charged solely with establishing the facts of the case and assessing and evaluating causes, but not apportioning blame or establishing liability; nor does the RAIB enforce safety law or conduct prosecutions.
The RAIB became operational on 17 October 2005. Before then, railway accidents were investigated by Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (which in 1990 became part of the Health and Safety Executive but is now part of the Office of Rail and Road), and the British Transport Police (if there were grounds for suspecting the commission of a crime, which in some cases there were). Whilst the police must always be involved when there may have been a crime, the involvement of HMRI as the principal safety investigating agency attracted criticism on the grounds that the HSE might be investigating itself, if, for example, the HSE had approved a track layout or a signaling scheme later suspected to have been at fault.
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