The European project Twinning II team, whose objective is to “enhance the cooperation between railway stakeholders for improving safety culture”, conducted the third peer review from 27 to 31 March 2023, thanks to INFRABEL’s commitment.
As project coordinator, UIC would like to give thanks to the INFRABEL Board for making this peer review possible, and especially to Neil Blakeley from Irish Rail for being so thorough with its organisation.
UIC and the Twinning II project team would also like to thank all of the INFRABEL’s operations and management staff, who gave their time and for their willingness to share views on how safety culture should be.
Peer review is a methodological approach and tool that helps members to benchmark themselves through a thorough and objective review of their activities, by an independent team from outside their organization, the Twinning II team. The result is a report that highlights strengths and areas for improvement in safety culture.
The peer review in INFRABEL was carried out using 3 types of sessions:
- Focus groups (with 3 or 4 ÖBB staff members) answering questions and giving feedback
- Interviews (with one person)
- On-site observation to analyse the workplace reality within certain activities
One of this peer review exercise’s strengths is that it encourages and supports the sharing of expertise between consortium members and raises awareness levels and the commitment to safety within host and visiting organisations. Through peer review, members learn and share general knowledge on safety culture and improve their own performance.
This was the last Peer Review of the Twinning II project, hoping that this approach would continue after the end of the project.
Finally, UIC would also like to wholeheartedly thank the Twinning II team for its outstanding work:
- IRISH RAIL, (leader of this peer review)
- INFRABEL (the peer reviewed company)
- EPSF (French NSA),
- ACF (Luxembourgish NSA),
- DB CARGO France,
- CFL CARGO.
- TRENITALIA France
The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Commission number MOVE/C4/SUB/2020-62/SI2.862249
For more information, please contact Virginie Papillault at UIC