Safety is not always taken sufficiently well into account in arranging school transports

The Safety In­ves­ti­ga­tion Au­thor­ity, Fin­land, has com­pleted the in­ves­ti­ga­tion into the col­li­sion be­tween a work train and a bus that was trans­port­ing school­child­ren at a level cross­ing, which was not equipped with a warn­ing de­vice, in Kask­i­nen on 5 Oc­to­ber 2021. The bus dri­ver as well as the school­child­ren who were the pas­sen­gers sus­tained in­juries of vary­ing de­grees in the col­li­sion. The ma­te­r­ial dam­age caused by the col­li­sion was ex­ten­sive.

“The transport of schoolchildren in Kaskinen had been arranged as a part of regular service. Therefore, the criteria for school transport had not been applied to the procurement. The client was not able to set safety criteria for the transport or define them in the agreement, either. In addition, level crossing safety in itself had not been taken into account in the tools and instructions for school transport route planning,” says Lasse Laatta, Investigator-in-Charge.

“A safety management system is not required in the bus transport sector. In this case, the orientation of the driver remained deficient with regard to both the route and the vehicle. Only a few of those in the bus were wearing a seatbelt. This means that there are still deficiencies in wearing a seatbelt on the bus,” adds the Investigator-in-Charge Laatta.

The deficient conditions at the level crossing may have partially influenced the accident. Due to the accident in Kaskinen, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency has set a speed limit for the track at the level crossing.

As a result of the investigation, the Safety Investigation Authority issues two new recommendations, repeats one safety recommendation that has already been issued and reopens one previously issued safety recommendation. The recommendations address the organisation of school transports, safety management systems in the bus transport sector as well as level crossing safety.

Investigation report available in Finnish and Swedish.

Further information:

Mr. Lasse Laatta, Investigator-in-Charge, tel. +358 2951 50709

Enquiries in Swedish should be addressed at Mr. Knut Lehtinen, tel. +358 504319602. He is available for enquiries on 29.9.2022 from 10.30 to 12.00.