19th October 2017
HSR/4/5
Katy Bucknell
Senior HR Business Partner
Greater Anglia Ltd
11th Floor
One Stratford Place
Mountfichet Road
London
E20 1EJ
Dear Katy
GREATER ANGLIA - DISPUTE CONTINGENCY PREPARATION
Further to my letter of 21st September 2017 in which I accused the company of putting their business needs ahead of passenger safety. I have raised the RMT’s concerns with your company’s use of a ‘volunteer’ workforce during strike days with the ORR who advise me of their concerns with the company.
ORR have identified that they have four particular areas of concern:
- Planning procedures
- Risk assessment
- Training
- Safety validation
That you were found deficient in these areas only confirms my fears that you will accept any risk to your passengers and staff who are not part of the dispute to defeat our strike action. I believe you have a responsibility, which you so far have failed to demonstrate, to suspend all such attempts to utilize these ‘volunteers’ on strike days in the future. That you have not demonstrated your ability to carry out such basic items of health and safety management in the list above must bring into question the suitability of your organisation to run passenger services in the first place.
I shall continue to gather intelligence on the company’s actions and will not hesitate to bring that information to the notice of the Regulator. I am sure you do not need reminding that the ORR are not only the Regulator of passenger rail transport but also the enforcing authority for health and safety breaches on the railway. I believe Greater Anglia are already walking the tight rope between inspection and enforcement and will not hesitate from pushing the Regulator down the road of enforcement should further information come to light.
Yours sincerely
Mick Cash
General Secretary
cc: Ian Prosser, HM Chief Inspector of Railways.