Following a number of high profile accidents in the railway industry in recent years, there has been a large amount of public debate about rail safety. The lessons learnt from these accidents have raised issues which are applicable to the process industries, particularly regarding safety management, human factors, management of contractors and organizational structures. These issues contribute significantly to many process industry accidents. This paper reviews the press reports and published accident reports for some recent high profile accidents including the Channel Tunnel fire, the Kaprun fire, Southall, Paddington, Hatfield and Selby and identifies learning points which are relevant for preventing accidents in the process industry.