Heritage Railway Safety Incidents

Summary

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture responded to a request for safety incident details regarding Isle of Man Heritage Railways since October 2011, disclosing three specific incidents and identifying the vehicle involved in a brake failure.

Key Facts

• The request covered the Manx Electric Railway, Isle of Man Railway, Douglas Horse Tramway, and Snaefell Mountain Railway.
• Three incidents were detailed in the response: two dangerous occurrences and one injury resulting in over 3 days absence.
• The Snaefell car involved in the brake failure incident on 4th August was identified as Car No. 2.
• Weather-related issues were cited as the cause for two of the reported dangerous occurrences.
• Additional incidents listed in Appendix 4 were excluded from this release to allow for a manageable processing of a potential new request.

Data Disclosed

• 11th October 2011
• 7th August 2017
• 12th September 2017
• 4th August
• Car No. 2
• 14 pages
• 1 document
• 20 working day
• 12-F2508-DO-07
• 12-F2508-DO-14
• 13-F2508-133-D0
• 12-F2508-08-11-OVER3
• 23/08/2012
• 20/08/2012
• 16/10/2012
• 13/10/2012
• 27/09/2013
• 21/09/2013
• 13/08/2012
• 08/08/2012

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Absolutely exempt personal information)

Data Tables (3)

Full Response Text

Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture

Rheynn Chymmyltaght, Bee as Eirinys

12th September 2017

Dear

Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (FoIA) Ref: IM98264i Heritage Railway Incidents Thank you for your request dated 7th August 2017 and further to our telephone conversation of last Thursday (24th) You asked: “Please can you provide details of all safety related incidents dating back to 11th October 2011, concerning the Island's Heritage Railways (Manx Electric Railway, Isle of Man Railway, Douglas Horse Tramway and Snaefell Mountain Railway) ,and the findings of any subsequent investigations or enquiries? Also please can you provide the identity of the Snaefell car which was involved in the brakes failure incident on Friday 4th August.”

Following consultation you refined this to: H&S Ref. Report Received Date of Incident Area Incident 12-F2508-DO-07 23/08/2012 20/08/2012 Snaefell Mountain Railway (SMR) Dangerous occurrence 12-F2508-DO-14 16/10/2012 13/10/2012 Manx Electric Railways Dangerous occurrence 13-F2508-133-D0 27/09/2013 21/09/2013 Manx Electric Railways Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work (originally reported to you as Dangerous Occurrence)

Response A search has been conducted and the Department confirms that information is held (see below). Some information has been redacted as it is personal information, absolutely exempt from release under section 25 of the FoIA.

Corporate Services Directorate, Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road,
St John’s, Isle of Man, IM4 3AS

Fax no (01624 685851 Email: defa@gov.im
www.gov.im

Quoting Ref: IM98264i Your Ref:

12-F2508-DO-07 See Appendix 1 This incident and the incident below, (12-F2508-DO-14) were weather related issues which were investigated at the time. A Health & Safety Inspector visited both sites and assessed the damage. The damage was rectified and the inspector visited again to confirm this.

12-F2508-DO-14 See Appendix 2 and the explanation above.

13-F2508-133-D0 See Appendix 3 and the video attached to the covering email.

The identity of the Snaefell car which was involved in the brakes failure incident on Friday 4th August is Car No. 2. Personal information has been redacted from the information released as it is exempt from release under section 25 (Absolutely exempt personal information). It constitutes personal data of which the applicant (you) is not the data subject; and the disclosure of the information would contravene any of the data protection principles.

Further incidents As agreed in our telephone conversation this request will now be closed. The further incidents that were listed in our letter of the 1st September are also listed here at Appendix 4. If you would like to submit a new FoI request, for a further 2-4 incidents, we will process that in the normal way. That will be a totally new request and will be subject to the normal 20 working day processing period and all the other considerations. Our aim is to release information wherever possible and in this way I hope we can work through the list in a manageable way. Your right to request a review If you are unhappy with this response to your Freedom of Information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post to the sender of this letter at the address above. An electronic version of the relevant complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://www.gov.im/about-the- government/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-review-request. If you would like a paper version of the complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact us and we will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.
If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1 Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act; or 2 Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.

In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your rights to review is on the Information Commissioner’s website at: https://www.inforights.im/

If anything is unclear, or if you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about Freedom of Information requests can be found: https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information

Yours sincerely Appendix 4 Table of incidents reported to Health & Safety at Work Inspectorate since 11th October 2011

H&S Ref. Report Received Date of Incident Area Incident Note 12-F2508-08-11- OVER3
13/08/2012 08/08/2012
Manx Electric Railways (MER)
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

12-F2508-DO-07
23/08/2012 20/08/2012
Snaefell Mountain Railway (SMR)
Dangerous occurrence
Information sent 12th Sept 2017 12-F2508-DO-14
16/10/2012 13/10/2012
Manx Electric Railways
Dangerous occurrence
Information sent 12th Sept 2017 13-F2508-133-DO
27/09/2013 21/09/2013
Manx Electric Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work Information sent 12th Sept 2017 14-F2508-63-OVER3
26/06/2014 18/06/2014
Manx Electric Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

14/00051/OVER3
16/09/2014 05/09/2014
Manx Electric Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

14/00074/DANG
06/10/2014 12/09/2014
Manx Electric Railways
Dangerous occurrence

15/00049/DANG
25/03/2015 18/03/2015
IOM Railways (IOMR)
Dangerous occurrence

15-00066-OVER3
09/04/2015 30/03/2015
IOM Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

Notified by telephone 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
Manx Electric Railways
Dangerous occurrence

15-00164-OVER3
05/10/2015 01/10/2015
Manx Electric Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

Notified by telephone 30/03/2016 30/03/2016
Snaefell Mountain Railway Dangerous occurrence

16-00109-OVER3
27/05/2016 14/04/2016
IOM Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

16-00239-OVER3
24/10/2016 12/08/2016
Manx Electric Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

16-00223-DANG
09/09/2016 02/09/2016
IOM Railways
Dangerous occurrence

16-00228-OVER3
20/09/2016 12/09/2016
Manx Electric Railways
Injury resulting in over 3 day absence from work

17/00117/DANG
11/05/2017 05/05/2017
Manx Electric Railways
Dangerous occurrence (this incident was damage caused to MER equipment by a third party)

17-00191-DANG
10/08/2017 04/08/2017
Snaefell Mountain Railway Dangerous occurrence

Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3

HSWI Report on Visit FILE NOTE

Duty Holder:

Manx Electric Railway

Date and type of visit, (INSP, CV, MTG, I/A, I/C, MISC)

Reason for visit. Parts of premises visited. Name and status of person seen. Matters of interest.
Complete and e -mail to adm in w ith i nstructions t o close complaint [if relevant] and electronically file.

Action taken (ADV, L, IN, PN, PR etc)

Action proposed I/A Visited Derby Castle to see regarding accident to on 21 September 2013. The brake handle had fractured his elbow.

Met with and .

Handle m echanism a nd method o f t he acc ident were demonstrated. T he handle has spun around fast when released by kicking the pawl and caught the IP on the elbow.

Anecdotally a member of staff had also been hit on the side of the face by the handle when it released.

Staff on s ite were u nsure o f t he method s hown d uring t he training, methods d iffered b etween o perating staff an d engineering staff. Engineering staff said that the handle should be held while the brake is coming off as this prevents damage to the braking mechanism.

Training documents were examined that showed all training had been completed and competency assessment made.

It was agreed that the correct and safest method was to hold the handle until the brake was fully off.

It was e xplained t hat a training session i s b eing he ld i n November a nd the correct method will be reinforced with the staff at that time.

Email sent to MER to confirm agreement. Adv

Name ( ):

Date:02/10/13

13_F2508_133_DO

Photographs PA020018

PA020019

PA020021

PA020022