Most of us don’t think about rail safety until it touches our lives directly. But for the young people who cross tracks on their way to school, play near lineside fencing, or don’t understand the dangers of a live railway, that knowledge gap can be life changing.
What is Rail Safe Friendly?
RSF works with schools across the country through its Learn Live news channel, delivering engaging, age-appropriate safety education to pupils. RSF’s goal is to have every school in the UK enrolled on the programme by 2027.
As a sponsor, we help fund school access to the Rail Live virtual learning platform – a resource packed with interactive videos, quizzes and activities designed to make rail safety messaging stick, in a format young people want to engage with.
Our sponsorship in numbers
Since getting involved, we have reached 1,811 young people through the programme so far – almost 4,000 eyes on a message that could one day save a life. We have four schools currently engaged through our sponsorship:
- St Chad’s R C Primary School, Birmingham
- St Jude’s CE Primary School, London
- Haberdashers’ Borough Academy, London
- Oasis Academy Temple Quarter, Bristol
As a Silver/Gold status sponsor, our commitment goes further than funding alone – it includes an in-person employer visit, giving our teams the chance to meet the young people benefiting from the programme face to face.
At Ridge we are always seeking innovative ways to make a transformational difference to the communities where we live and work and supporting Rail Safe Friendly is a clear reflection of how we want to deliver social value through our work in infrastructure. ”
Chris Haworth
Partner, Project and Programme Delivery
This initiative aligns strongly with our ‘Resilient Communities’ Social Value pillar and helps young people build awareness of rail safety in an engaging and potentially life-saving way. Our partnership also gives our teams the opportunity to use their infrastructure knowledge beyond project delivery, supporting schools and building community resilience.
Why it matters
Rail safety education is one of those causes where a relatively small investment of time and resources can have an outsized impact. A single school visit, a poster taken home, a quiz answered correctly, can be the difference between a young person understanding the dangers of the railway and taking an unnecessary risk.
Supporting RSF is a natural extension of our broader commitment to social value – using our position, our people and our partnerships to make a genuine, positive difference in the communities where we work.
Let's talk
If you want to find out more about this initiative please get in touch with: Laura Perry or Maya Patel .
