CARA (2004) HFAL provides the CARA confidential reporting System for Irish Rail. CARA is a confidential reporting system that allows staff to make reports about safety concerns that they would not usually put through normal channels through fear of recrimination. HFAL consultants act as an independent third party for these reports, interviewing the staff member and feeding the report back to Irish Rail without identifying the individuals involved. Staff can use either a freepost report form or telephone a free-phone number. The aim is to capture safety information that Irish Rail would not otherwise be aware of, with the philosophy that it is more important to know what is happening rather than who is doing it.
CIRAS – Confidential reporting for the UK railways (2000-2004) With its close affiliation to the University of Strathclyde, HFAL consultants have been instrumental in the development and workings of CIRAS (Confidential Reporting and Analysis System), the UK rail network confidential reporting system. Professor John Davies developed the original scheme in 1996 and our work following this has involved companies such as Virgin Trains, First ScotRail and GNER. HFAL has developed an extensive taxonomy of human and technical factors, which has enabled train companies to better understand the reasons and causes behind events and to address factors that can lead to their prevention.