Legislation
Railway Safety Act 2005
The Railway Safety Act 2005 established a comprehensive framework within which railway safety is regulated. In addition to providing for the establishment and empowerment of the Railway Safety Commission (RSC), and within it a functionally independent Railway Incident Investigation Unit, the principal provisions of the Act relate to:
- Placement of a general duty of care on railway undertakings, persons working on the railway and others to have regard for their own safety and that of others in conducting activities on or about the railway.
- Requirement for railway undertakings to implement such systems as are necessary for the effective management of safety and to evidence these in a safety case.
- Reporting of railway incidents by undertakings and their investigations by those undertakings or by the Railway Incident Investigation Unit.
- Establishment of a Railway Safety Advisory Council representative of various stakeholder organisations and with powers to make recommendations to the Minister and the RSC on matters of railway safety.
- Control of the impact of drugs and alcohol including specification of maximum limits and testing of safety critical railway workers
The following additional relevant legislation can be found in the Irish Statute Book on the website www.irishstatutebook.ie or on the European Union website europa.eu.int.
- Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001;
- Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's railways;
- Directive 2001/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 amending Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community's railways;
- Directive 2001/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings;
- Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification;
- Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system.