Barbara Smith, Principal Rail Operations Specialist at RSSB, presents new guidance for personal track safety.
At about eight in the evening on Saturday 14 December 2019, a train driver became trapped between two trains in the yard at Tyseley depot in Birmingham. He received fatal injuries as a result. A tragedy, and one that RAIB would investigate and report on. Before that, though, RAIB also issued an Urgent Safety Advice, which said that companies should be aware that using the Rule Book as the only basis of personal track safety (PTS) training for drivers and other operational staff is inappropriate because:
The provisions of the Rule Book with respect to PTS do not apply when working away from the mainline railway (such as most depots, yards and sidings).
The Rule Book contains no rules, regulations or instructions relating to passing between or close to the ends of stationary rail vehicles.
The law is behind all we do, so to help operators meet their duties under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Railways and Other Guided Transport System (Safety) Regulations 2006 (better known as ROGS), we’ve created a new guidance note.
This Rail Industry Guidance Note gives pointers to help companies train and develop staff, while suggesting hazards and control measures that could be considered. It also gives guidance on monitoring and assessing the application of skills and competence required when moving safely around the railway.
Railway staff are required, at times, to access operational areas of the railway in the course of their duties. This has the potential to be a risk to the person’s health or safety. Personal safety incidents, ranging from slips, trips and falls to being trapped between coaches or wagons, can cause injury or death, damage the industry’s reputation, and have an impact on timetables and staff resources, all of which are costly.
A PTS course and its competency cover trackside skills and knowledge that track workers use regularly. But as RAIB said, the provisions of the Rule Book with respect to PTS do not apply in depots, yards, sidings and freight terminals, and may not address the risks associated with operational tasks. Having relevant site knowledge is important to allow staff to work safely in or around the railway environment. Our guidance note will help with that.
If the draft is successfully accepted by the Traffic Operations and Management Standards Committee, it’ll be published in June 2023.