Improving safety while reducing financial risks
Our new 'Operational Railway Safety Awareness' training materials are practical, extensive, and apply our human factors expertise
Barbara SmithPrincipal Rail Operations Specialist, Rail Operations, RSSB
It’s an unfortunate fact that operational staff who work in depots, freight terminals, sidings, and yards (DFSY) are at risk. The dangers of being struck by trains or other vehicles, electric shocks, or slips, trips, and falls have always been present, but until now, there were no standards or training materials specifically designed for them. This meant some cleaners, freight-end users, managers, and train drivers lacked much-needed operational safety awareness in DFSY. Although Personal Track Safety (PTS) courses and competencies already used in rail, typical PTS courses do not cover DFSY and may not address the risks associated with operational tasks.
This stems from the unconventional way these areas fit within railway regulations. The Railway Standards Code and Railway Standards Manual apply to the mainline railway in Great Britain, but the Railway and Other Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 generally excludes DFSY from the mainline railway. Consequently, workers in these locations were inadvertently overlooked in the provision of personal safety guidance and learning materials, even though their operational tasks include exposure to serious risks. The fatal accident involving a member of staff at Tyseley Depot in 2019 underlined the importance of this issue.
In addition to unnecessary practical difficulties this deficit has created for operational workers in DFSY locations, lack of guidance in this area has caused sizeable financial risk for rail companies. One serious injury in a siding or depot in a five-year period, leading to a prohibition notice and civil claim, could cost a railway undertaking £500,000. Fines can be as much as £1.5 million for the most serious accidents. There are other costs too, such as the Value of Preventing a Fatality. By adopting the framework and training materials that have now been produced, the industry as a whole could save over £2 million over five years.
This important issue has now been remedied in two ways. Firstly, a new standard, GOGN3616 Issue 1 Guidance on Operational Railway Safety Awareness, was published in June 2023. This sets out the risks, hazards, and control measures to be considered in training, and provides a framework for competence review and assessment.
Want to know more?Read GOGN3616 Issue 1 Guidance on Operational Railway Safety Awareness in the Standards Catalogue.
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The second way is directly practical for operational workers in DFSY: the provision of a suite of guidance and learning materials specifically for them and their workplace contexts. This underlines the importance of companies assessing the risks to their staff. In November 2023, we published training materials and assessments for the four groups of operational staff involved in these locations. Operational staff in DFSY can now learn about types of potential risks and harms they might encounter at work. The materials can be used as templates for companies to add or remove content depending on the risks they identify. The training briefing notes also advise companies to include their own company instructions and procedures to manage or reduce risks.
In addition to our deployment of extensive operational expertise, RSSB has used its human factors know-how. The learning materials feature audio-visual content, pictures, and diagrams, all to elicit learning through discussion. Network Rail has also provided some relevant videos and audio-visual materials, and their generous contribution is acknowledged.
The resources are comprehensive. For each of the four operational worker roles identified, there are six detailed guidance modules, each with a set of introductory PowerPoint slides, thorough briefing notes, and an example of an assessment.
So operational workers in DFSY can now gain the operational railway safety awareness they need, and railway undertakings will be exposed to less financial risk.
Get startedAccess the training modules we provide for workers in DFSY.