(a) General. As part of its RRP, a railroad shall develop and maintain ongoing processes and systems for evaluating the safety performance of its system and identifying and analyzing its safety culture. A railroad's safety performance evaluation shall consist of both a safety monitoring and a safety assessment component.

(b) Safety monitoring. A railroad shall monitor the safety performance of its system by, at a minimum, establishing processes and systems to acquire safety data and information from the following sources:

(1) Continuous monitoring of operational processes and systems (including any operational changes, system extensions, or system modifications);

(2) Periodic monitoring of the operational environment to detect changes that may generate new hazards;

(3) Investigations of accidents/incidents, injuries, fatalities, and other known indicators of hazards;

(4) Investigations of reports regarding potential non-compliance with Federal railroad safety laws or regulations, railroad operating rules and practices, or mitigation strategies established by the railroad; and

(5) A reporting system through which employees can report safety concerns (including, but not limited to, hazards, issues, occurrences, and incidents) and propose safety solutions and improvements.

(c) Safety assessment. To assess the need for changes to a railroad's mitigation strategies or overall RRP, a railroad shall establish processes to analyze the data and information collected pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section (as well as any other relevant data regarding its operations, products, and services). At a minimum, this assessment shall:

(1) Evaluate the overall effectiveness of the railroad's RRP in reducing the number and rates of railroad accidents/incidents, injuries, and fatalities;

(2) Evaluate the effectiveness of the railroad's RRP in meeting the goals described by its RRP plan (see §271.203(c));

(3) Evaluate the effectiveness of risk mitigations in reducing the risk associated with an identified hazard. Any hazards associated with ineffective mitigation strategies shall be reevaluated through the railroad's risk-based HMP, as described in §271.103; and

(4) Identify new, potential, or previously unknown hazards, which shall then be evaluated by the railroad's risk-based HMP, as described in §271.103.