002/99

Your response to Tranz Rail's submission on the preliminary Safety Recommendation has been noted and it is disappointing to see that while you recognised the commitment already put in by the Company, you are not prepared to recognise this within the report by changing the recommendation to a safety action. Tranz Rail believes that the submission made outlines the Companies action & intent already being taken in regard to this safety recommendation and have nothing further to add. Tranz Rail's submission made in response to the preliminary safety recommendation included: For the last two years Tranz Rail has had an Accident Prevention Programme in place, the objective of which is to develop a culture of no blame in order to ensure that the basic cause of an accident/incident is identified to enable appropriate preventative action to be implemented. It is Service Delivery's policy that this programme covers all operating staff. In view of this the Safety Recommendation should be changed to a Safety Action that the Company has already undertaken, nevertheless we will reinforce the need to emphasise the corrective action rather than the punishment culture.