Working for RAIB

Roles at the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and how to apply for jobs.

Inspectors

Inspectors’s duties

Our inspectors investigate accidents and incidents on the railway. This includes:

  • collecting evidence on site
  • collecting other evidence and information off site
  • testing, reconstruction or modelling
  • analysis
  • stakeholder liaison
  • producing the final report with recommendations to the industry

Eligibility for inspector posts

Inspectors must:

  • have degree qualifications or demonstrate significant experience and achievements in a relevant professional field
  • hold a UK driving licence and be prepared to travel at short notice to anywhere in the UK
  • be fit to work on an operational railway and at accident sites and pass the Personal Track Safety medical examination

We expect them to live within 1 hour’s travel of either Derby or Farnborough, where our offices are based. We may offer help in relocation if this is necessary.

Our inspectors come from a variety of backgrounds within the railway industry, including:

  • operations
  • traction and rolling stock
  • signalling
  • civil and track engineering
  • other industry sectors where they’ve helped investigate complex issues

They’re usually members of a relevant professional body.

Training for inspectors

We provide training for new inspectors in:

  • the different specialist railway disciplines including track, rolling stock, operations, signalling, human factors, earthworks and structures
  • investigation skills, eg accident site management, interviewing witnesses, and the collection and preservation of evidence

Meet our inspectors

Some of our inspectors talk about their work and experiences.

Support and administrative staff

Our support and admin team members undertake a wide range of roles including:

  • supporting operational inspectors when deployed and helping them with ongoing investigations
  • supporting senior management with policy and legal case work
  • analysis of information concerning equipment, operations and causes, trends of accidents etc
  • producing our publications and maintaining our content on GOV.UK
  • finance and procurement
  • equipment and facilities management

Training for support and admin staff

We provide induction training for new staff with no previous experience of the railway industry. E-learning and face-to-face training are provided for specific roles and encouraged for ongoing personal development.

Meet our Team

Some of our colleagues talk about working for the branch.

Vacancies at RAIB

We do not currently have any vacancies.

When we recruit inspectors we will advertise in the national and specialist press. Depending on the nature of the vacancy, adverts for support and administrative staff may be placed in the local press.

We also advertise vacancies for inspectors and support and administrative staff on our website.

You can subscribe to automatically receive alerts and updates when we publish.

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