ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the comparison of the causes of accidents and near misses collected from one UK railway company. It aims to test the validity of the common cause hypothesis in the UK railway industry and widens the focus from Signals Passed At Danger (SPADs) to all incidents involving train drivers. There is much controversy over the veracity of the common cause hypothesis: that near misses and actual accidents have the same causal patterns. The common cause hypothesis is not to be confused with the iceberg/triangle models of the frequency of occurrence and severity of accidents and near misses or the hidden costs of accidents. The actions (based on analysis of near miss causes) taken to reduce the recurrence of future accidents should be monitored for effectiveness by comparing the causation pattern and frequency of occurrence of similar accidents and near misses after implementation of remedial measures.
