Calling accidents the product of human error is meaningless until the overall working conditions are taken into account. A driver of a train is part of a working environment. Working conditions revolve around making profits for the bosses. It is written into the terms of employment that a railway employee cannot make public any concerns they may have about working conditions within the company, including the contravention of safety standards.
Any worker doing so is deemed to be in breach of their contract and can be dismissed.
With the national railways being owned by separate and competing companies, a worker faces a continuous pressure to place commercial interests above safety concerns. The train operating companies view the costs of safety provisions as a drain on profits. Railtrack, which owns the tracks and signalling and leases their use to the train operators, is a prime example. Every inquiry into train collisions since 1988 has recommended that this be installed. This system of measurement is one in which a financial restraint is placed on saving lives.