Safety Regulator

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) is the independent health and safety regulator for railways and tramways in Great Britain. ORR is responsible for managing and enforcing railway related health and safety legislation.

This was previously the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive/Health and Safety Commission until April 2006. Following this transfer of responsibility, which was given effect by the Railways Act 2005, ORR has become the independent combined safety and economic regulator for the railway. This change has simplified the regulatory structure of the rail industry by having one regulator rather than two and permitting economic and safety decisions to be taken within the same organisation.

An Agency Agreement [PDF 149kb] has been put in place between the Secretary of State for Transport and the Office of Rail Regulation under paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to the Railways Act 2005. The Agency Agreement allows the Office of Rail Regulation to perform certain safety related functions on behalf of the Secretary of State as part of its wider rail safety role. The Agency Agreement came in to effect on 20 October 2008. A similar Agency Agreement existed between DfT and HSE, before HMRI transferred to ORR in April 2006.

Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate (HMRI), which is part of the Office of Rail Regulation, will investigate railway accidents to establish whether obligations under health and safety law have been met by the railway organisations involved.  HMRI have powers to issue enforcement or improvement notices or to prosecute breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA). The maximum penalty for a successful prosecution is an unlimited fine.