The role of employees of the national safety authority in the supervision of safety management systems in rail transport

There are many scientific studies related to the functioning of safety management systems, but they often focus on situations within business entities. The area of safety, however, is also shaped by advisory institutions, publishers, universities and regulators. In this study, we described the interface between the railway safety regulator in one of the EU Member States and the business entities supervised by it. In order to achieve this, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with the regulator's employees responsible for performing inspections. It can be concluded that an inspection resembles a theatre stage where everyone plays their part. During an inspection, inspectors adopt the approach of an advisor or a guard, depending on their subjective feelings about the course of the inspection. The obtained results were discussed along with the regulator's management and used to assess the effectiveness of the activities undertaken by the regulator in the given area during the last few years.