The head of Network Rail’s Safety Task Force says the group has virtually eliminated work where the human forms of lookout warning is the single point of failure.
Speaking at RBD Community’s Rail Safety and Infrastructure event at the University of Birmingham, Nick Millington said the two greatest risk factors are lookout warnings and situational / positional awareness when working on the railway.
He said the target is to completely remove lookouts and LOWS (lookout operated warning system) as well as targeting 100 per cent additional protection/train activated learning and adopt a 100 per cent compliance with 019 safe working practices.
He said: “We have taken big steps in creating a much safer working environment for track workers, but each day is a new day and it is about consistency.
“I am very conscious of the work we are doing only being as good as our last day. It is a continuous effort to keep our track worker colleagues safe whilst working on the railway.”
He said that a new initiative is being rolled out called RailHub “Safer Work Packs” with three routes completed so far and 10 left to go.
“Safer, simpler and more collaborative planning, with improved assurance, is at the heart of #RailHub,” he said. “We are committed to giving our teams the best possible way to plan work simply and deliver safely on site. We have deployed #RailHub to the entire North West and Central Region now, and our next stop is Wales and Western Region.”
Nick was one of several high-profile industry leaders speaking, including RSSB’s health and wellbeing programme manager Darryl Hopper, head of SHEQ at the Midland Metro Alliance John Ellison, and Tim Flower, UK account director at Konux and from event sponsors S&C Alliance.
The S&C Alliance is a collaboration between six RBD Community members (Konux, Interflon, Staytite, DWG Infraco, OneBigCircle and Flexilube) in addition to drawing on the expertise of two industry S&C and S&T (signalling and telecommunications) specialists with a reputation for their knowledge and competence.
Eli Rees-King, head of RBD Community, said: “’Everyone Home Every Day’ is so much more than just words; it sits at the heart of everything that involves people working on the railway.
“It was clear that there was a shared aspiration from everyone at our Rail Safety and Infrastructure event at the University of Birmingham, sponsored by S&C Alliance, as to how we can work together to make the railway as safe as it possibly can be.
“Thank you so much to all the speakers and everyone who attended. It was enjoyable, inciteful and has left me with an enormous sense of pride about the huge amount of work and collaboration taking place to keep everyone working in the UK rail industry safe.”
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