Recommendation 19: Revise basic visual inspection procedures
From Formal Inquiry: Potters Bar derailment of 10 May 2002 — Final Report (RSSB FI2013/F), published 18 March 2005.
Recommendation
The planning, operating, and recording of basic visual inspection procedures, as prescribed in RT/CE/S/103, should be reviewed. Revised Track Inspection Sheets and Track Patrol procedure documents should be produced that: • Mandate the exact procedures that staff are required to follow. • Include instructions as to how recording and signing should be carried out, particularly in terms of recording the track in which staff walk, and the finding of no new or changed defects. • Include specific allowance for those stretches of line where the distance between tracks is greater than a standard ten-foot. If it is decided to continue using patrolmen in pairs, the recording and signing process for this method should also be prescribed.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from the addressee has been found in the sources searched (last checked 27 February 2026). This is separate from the response above.