FSP news horizon scanning workshop

DB Cargo UK’s Doncaster offices hosted a Horizon Scanning test workshop at the end of February. Guy Yeomans and Elliot James from RSSB’s Futures Lab facilitated the session, alongside project sponsor Neil Hutchinson, Head of Safety at DB Cargo UK. This workshop marked an important milestone in testing the emerging risks ‘Horizon Scanning Service’, a pilot initiative being developed in partnership with the RSSB through the Freight Safe Programme.

The purpose of the session was to generate discussions on a range of emerging risk information and explore their possible implications for a freight operating company. The workshop enabled feedback to be gathered from participants on the materials and process used. This input will be crucial in enabling the further development of the Horizon Scanning Service, which will be based on a quarterly report on emerging risks, alongside support for organisations to assist them in using the information.

The service aims to help the industry better anticipate risks, identify issues which may require collective response, and help individual organisations explore their own wider business risks. Representatives from a variety of departments at DB Cargo UK including safety, planning, IT, legal, and finance – came together to engage in group exercises which explored different scenarios using a simple three-step process to better understand potential risks and their impact on the industry.

Geoff Spencer, Chair of the Freight Safe Programme Steering Group, said: