'Dysfunctional' HSE attacked

A former chief of rail safety has labelled the Health and Safety Executive a "dysfunctional" organisation.

In a damning resignation letter, Alan Osborne, who quit as director of rail safety last month, criticised an "out-of-touch" set-up blighted by bureaucracy and internal politics.

His post was created a year ago after the Cullen Report into the 1999 Ladbroke Grove crash. But in the letter, leaked to The Economist, he wrote: "I came to the conclusion it was not possible to deliver Lord Cullen's vision.

"I spent more and more time dealing with bureaucracy and internal-politics ... I found it disappointing to have witnessed such a dysfunctional organisation."

The HSE, which approved the Tube public-private partnership as safe, said the UK's workplace safety record was among the best in the world. A spokesman said: "On the railways, safety performance continues to improve."