HM Railway Inspectorate (HMRI: his/her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate) is the British government body responsible for overseeing safety on Britain's railways, tramways, trolley bus and other guided transport systems. Majesty is an English word rooting in the Latin Maiestas, meaning literally,Greatness. ... Categories: Stub | Core issues in ethics | Firearm components | Safety | American football ... A Tram or Light rail system Historically, a railway, particularly one used for the carriage of minerals. ...

Origins

The body originated in the 1840s when Inspecting Officers of Railways were first appointed by the Board of Trade (BoT). Britain's railways at that time were large monopolistic private companies, so the BoT was concerned with competition; and the HMRI was formed to safeguard the public (not railway employees). Events and Trends Technology First use of anaesthesia in an operation, by Crawford Long War, peace and politics First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi New Zealand. ... The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions. ... In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ... A private company is a company that is not a public company. ... Competition is the act of striving against another force for the purpose of achieving dominance or attaining a reward or goal, or out of a biological imperative such as survival. ...

Until the late 1960s HMRI's Inspecting Officers were all recruited from the Corps of Royal Engineers; as the Corps ran the UK's military railway system and they would be very familiar with the Railway Rule Book. Since then Inspecting Officers have been recruited, as mid-career, railway employees from the former British Rail. The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... The Corps of Royal Engineers (RE), commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. ... Look up Career in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A career is traditionally seen as a course of successive situations that make up a persons worklife. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Logo of British Rail British Railways (BR), later rebranded as British Rail, ran the British railway system from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies in 1948 until its privatisation in stages between 1994 and 1997. ...

The function of HMRI is to inspect and approve all new (or modified) railway works and to investigate railway accidents. These accident investigations have tended to be held in public; and the findings were published as HMRI Railway Accident Reports. These investigations were Inquisitorial, in that their aim was to determine the causes behind the accident and to make recommendations to avoid reoccurrence. The reports were widely circulated around the railway industry. An accident is something going wrong unexpectedly. ... Public is of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; opposed to private; as, the public treasury, a road or lake. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... An inquisitorial system is a legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in determining the facts of the case, as opposed to an adversarial system where the role of the court is solely that of an impartial referee between parties. ... In European Union Law a recommendation Differs from regulations, directives and decisions, in that they are not binding for Member States. ...

Recent history

The HMRI became part of the Department of Transport and it remained there until 1990, when it was transferred to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). About this time HMRI expanded its scope and recuited additional staff, Railway Employment Officers. It was their job to monitor the workplace safety and health of Railway employees. The Department of Transport is a ministry of the United Kingdom, currently headed by the Secretary of State for Transport (Alistair Darling). ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), reporting to the Health and Safety Commission, is the British government body responsible for the regulation of risks to health and safety in the UK. It was created as a result of the Health and Safety at Work, etc, Act 1974, and has since... Workplace safety is an important management responsibility in industry. ...

Since the move to the HSE, (newsworthy) train crash investigations have tended to be held as Public Inquiries presided over by a High Court Judge; and the findings published. These inquiries tend to be more Aversarial; with the aim of identifing the guilty parties. In some cases Criminal prosecution of these parties has occured in parallel with the Public Inquiry; holding up the Public Inquiry until the Criminal Prosecutions have been completed. In the politics and government of Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, a public inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by the government. ... Her Majestys High Court of Justice (known more simply as the High Court) is, together with the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England and Wales: see Courts of England and Wales. ... A judge or justice is an appointed or elected official who presides over a court. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The adversarial system (or adversary system) of law is the system of law, generally adopted in common law countries, that relies on the skill of the different advocates representing their partys positions and not on some neutral party, usually the judge, trying to ascertain the truth of the case. ... A crime in a broad sense is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of law that regulates governmental sanctions (such as imprisonment and/or fines) as retaliation for crimes against the social order. ...

This move to the HSE was unpopular with many in the industry, and as part of its rail review in 2004 the Government announced that the Railway Inspectorate will be transferred from the HSE to merge with the Office of the Rail Regulator. No fixed timescale for this change is yet known but it is expected to occur toward the end of 2005.

The Inspectorate oversees both operational safety and the initial integrity of new and modified works.