RTI Act 2005 SAFETY ORGANISATION
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RTI Act 2005 SAFETY ORGANISATION
The Safety Organisation was created in Indian Railway arising out of the recommendations in reports of Inquiries into Serious Train Accidents by Kunzru and Sikri Committees. Initially the Safety Organisation was functioning as one of the wings of Operating department. Based on the recommendations of Justice Khanna Committee (Railway Safety Review Committee), a broad-based Safety department was set up with Officers and staff drawn from all disciplines concerned with safety in train operations, viz. Operating, Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical and Signal & Telecommunication departments manning the posts.
The broad scope and functions of the Safety Department is:
• To sensitise all concerned on Safety related issues
• To oversee all Safety matters
• To identify Safety related Susceptibilities and Vulnerabilities
• To establish effective response mechanism to handle situations arising out of untoward incidents
• To enable the concerned departments to Deliver
The Safety Organization functions at all the three levels of organisational structure of the Indian Railway – Railway Board, Zonal Railways and Divisons.
At the Railway Board level the Safety directorate is headed by an Adviser assisted by Directors, other officers and Inspectors drawn from various disciplines.
At the Zonal Railway level the Chief Safety Officer heads the Safety department assisted by officers and supervisory staff from other departments connected with Safety.
At the Divisional level, are headed by Divisional Safety Officers. An Assistant officer is also available. Supervisory level staff from all concerned departments are available for providing assistance at Divisional level.
The following activities are undertaken by the Safety Department at Zonal Headquarters level:
• Auditing the safety awareness/consciousness of the Railway employees at all levels through normal and surprise inspections as well as super-checks. This will also include checks on availability and adequacy of rules and procedures laid down by various departments for ensuring safety in train operations and their compliance by various levels of staff
• Reporting of accidents, conducting accident inquiries, analyze the causes leading to such situations and recommend corrective action so as to prevent such incidents in future
• Monitoring of Disaster management mechanism for providing effective response to untoward incidents on the Railways and also co-ordinating with State Government and other agencies in disaster management activities
• Creating awareness amongst public for ensuring safety in Railway compartments and at level crossings
• Creating safety awareness amongst Staff through publication of bulletins, magazines, posters, calendars etc., and also motivating staff who have acted in a manner as to avoid an accident or untoward incident through cash awards and other schemes
• Follow-up of implementation of recommendations made by the Railway Safety Review Committee, High level Committee on Disaster Management, and those by the Commissioners of Railway Safety as a result of inquiries into train accidents
• Monitoring progress of various safety related works and activities, keeping in view the objectives and goals laid down in the Indian Railways Corporate Safety Plan 2003-2013
Organisation Structure:
The structure of Organisation of Safety department at the Zonal Railway Headquarters is as follows:
The powers and duties of officers:
Chief Safety Officer (CSO)
Chief Safety Officer is the Head of the Safety department.
CSO is given powers as applicable to a Principal Head of Department (PHOD) as per the Schedule of Powers.
The major duties of CSO include:
• Reporting of accidents to General Manager, Railway Board and Commissioner of Railway Safety
• Compilation of accident statistics and its analysis
• Assisting Commissioner of Railway Safety in conducting accident inquiries
• Monitoring of disciplinary action against staff held responsible for accidents and ensure adequacy of punishments imposed
• Liaison with all departments for safe practices in maintenance and working of trains and apprising the General Manager about deficiencies and short comings in these areas
• Conducting super-checks in all areas connected with operation and maintenance of train services from the safety point of view
• Co-ordination with State Governments for promoting safety at level crossings
• Preparation and circulation of safety circulars, bulletins and posters as well as release of advertisements in newspapers on safety related issues
• Ordering and co-ordinating safety drives
• Co-ordination for improvement of Crew/Guard booking points and running rooms for running staff
• Co-ordination regarding Disaster Management functions including interaction with agencies outside Railways
• Implementation of Corporate Safety Plan and follow up of Zonal Safety Action Plan
• Co-ordination and conduct of Safety audit (within Southern Railway) and Inter-Railway Joint Safety Inspection (in South Central Railway) with a multi-disciplinary team of Senior administrative grade level officers
Deputy Chief Operations Manager-Safety (Dy COM/S)
Dy. COM/S is the second in command of Safety department. Dy.COM/S stands-in during the absence of CSO from Headquarters. Dy.COM/S is given powers as applicable to a Deputy Head of Department at Headquarters office as per the Schedule of Powers. Duties of Dy.COM/S are broadly:
• To carry out safety super-checks in respect of safety functions of Civil Traffic department through inspections and interaction with the officers and staff of the department both at Headquarters and Divisional levels.
• Stores matters.
• To assist CSO in carrying out duties assigned to CSO.
• To carry out any other function assigned by CSO.
Executive Engineer-Safety (XEN/S)
XEN/S is given powers as applicable to a Senior scale officer at Headquarters office as per the Schedule of Powers. Duties of XEN/S are broadly:
• To carry out safety super-checks in respect of safety functions of Civil engineering department through inspections and interaction with the officers and staff of the department both at Headquarters and Divisional levels.
• Monitoring of Accident inquiries and follow up on the recommendations and disciplinary action cases arising out of such inquiries
• Follow up action on Inspection reports of Commissioner of Railway Safety
• Monitoring of progress of safety related works
• Monitoring of asset reliability and equipment failures (Civil engineering items)
• To assist CSO in carrying out duties assigned to CSO
• To carry out any other function assigned by CSO.
Senior Mechanical Engineer-Safety (SME/S)
SME/S is given powers as applicable to a Senior scale officer at Headquarters office as per the Schedule of Powers. Duties of SME/S are broadly:
• To carry out safety super-checks in respect of safety functions of Mechanical department through inspections and interaction with the officers and staff of the department both at Headquarters and Divisional levels.
• Matters pertaining to disaster management, running rooms and crew booking points
• Follow up and co-ordination on recommendations of Railway Safety Review Committee and High level committee on disaster management
• Monitoring of asset reliability and equipment failures (Mechanical and Electrical engineering items)
• To assist CSO in carrying out duties assigned to CSO.
• To carry out any other function assigned by CSO.
Senior Signal & Telecommunication Engineer-Safety (SSTE/S)
SSTE/S is given powers as applicable to a Senior scale officer at Headquarters office as per the Schedule of Powers. Duties of SSTE/S are broadly:
• To carry out safety super-checks in respect of safety functions of Signal and Telecommunication department through inspections and interaction with the officers and staff of the department both at Headquarters and Divisional levels.
• Follow-up action on policy directives and other references from Railway Board
• Monitoring of asset reliability and equipment failures (Signalling and Telecommunication engineering items)
• To assist CSO in performance of above functions.
• To carry out any other function assigned by CSO.
Manuals and Records used for discharging functions
• General & Subsidiary Rules of Southern Railway
• Block Working Manual of Southern Railway
• Accident Manual of Southern Railway
• Disaster Management Plan – Zonal Plan of Southern Railway and Divisional plans of all the five divisions of Southern Railway
• Indian Railway Permanent Way Manual 2004
• Indian Railway Works Manual 2000
• Indian Railway Bridge Manual 1998
• Indian Railway Signal Engineering Manual
• AC Traction Manual
• Maintenance Manual for BG coaches of ICF design
• Maintenance Manual for Wagons
• IRCA Conference Rules (Part-III) for Wagons
• IRCA Conference Rules (Part-IV) for Coaches
• Working Time Tables of the five divisions of Southern Railway
• Indian Railway Schedule of Dimensions (BG) Revised 2004
• Corporate Safety Plan
• Recommendations of Railway Safety Review Committee (Part-I and Part-II)
Categories of documents held
The following documents are held by the Headquarters Safety Department:
• Policy directives from Railway Board on matters concerning Safety
• Inquiry Reports of Accidents on Southern Railway
• Inquiry Reports of Commissioner of Railway Safety
• Inspections Notes of Officers of Headquarters Safety Department
• Inspection Notes of General Manager and Railway Board officers in areas connected with Safety
• Reports of Safety Audits and Joint Safety Inspections conducted by the Multi-disciplinary team of SAG level officers
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