Minutes – 29 June 2012 /
MINUTES
Meeting Name: / National Health, Safety & Welfare Council / Time: / 10.00 – 14.00
Meeting Date: / 18th September 2012 / Venue: / The Learning Tree, London Euston
Attendees: / Network Rail
Chris Hext (CH) – Chair
Alan Brookes (AB)
Mike Carr (MCa)
Dave Allen (DA)
Chris Thomas (CT)
Lee Parlett (LP)
Chris Lee (CL) (Part)
Abigail Patterson (AP)
Michael Dooley (MD)
Joanne Howse (JH) (Notes)
RMT
Mick Cash (MC)
Julian Thomas (JT)
Alan Clews (AC)
Sean McGowan (SMc)
TSSA
Martin Leadbetter (ML)
Des More (DM)
Ian Henry (IH)
UNITE
John Smith (JS) / Apologies: / Mac Andrade
Brian Tomlinson
Caroline Meek
Allan Spence
Patrick Hallgate
John Sessions
Iain Boardman
Susan Murray
Paul Clyndes
Steve Swift
Elly Baker
John Sessions
Distribution: As above listings.
/ Item / Action /1. / National Electrical Safety Improvement Programme - Peter Dearman
Peter Dearman gave a presentation on the National Electrical Safety Improvement Programme.
Presentation attached to the minutes of this meeting.
A discussion was held and the following to note.
SMc raised a query in relation to the Senior Nominated Person asking how many of these posts there were going to be. PD stated that the post needed looking at and they were dealing with this.
SMc also stated that the trainers needed to be reviewed.
AC stated that the presentation had mentioned that no one had failed the training in the last five years but there had been some issues with people’s knowledge/competence. AC asked what was in place for the time being to address these issues. PD stated that an audit regime is in place.
MC raised an issue with 360 diggers working under live rail, he stated that diggers should not be operated on the live rail and requested that NR stop this now. MC stated that he will be contacting the ORR on the issue relating to 360 diggers.
MC also raised an issue with overhead lines stating that he had a serious concern on how NR were going to deliver a programme on overhead lines.
MC stated that he had concerns on training with PTS.
MC asked what NR was doing with regards to authorised persons following two accidents in the North West. AB stated that he would give feedback to MC at the next Maintenance Council meeting.
PD stated that the presentation did not mention the authorised person as NR had not found a problem with the training for that particular post.
Action 1 – PD and AB to discuss the above issues outside the meeting.
CH stated that the consultation log needed to be revamped to make sure the correct information was held on the log.
2. / National HS&W Council Administration
CH welcomed all to the meeting and introductions were made.
CH informed the group that he would review the Council membership outside the meeting and report back to the next meeting.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the last meeting held on 29th June 2012 were reviewed and agreed.
Action Log
The action log was reviewed and updated.
It was agreed that at the next meeting in November there would be an update from the Lead Union Reps on the sub groups that they were involved with.
3. / Trade Union Matters
RMT
AC raised the following issue:-
Workshop at Bristol DU on slips, trips and falls a joint approach
It was noted that JT and AC are involved in the workshop at Bristol DU. AC stated that there is a trial in one area and the idea was then to share in the good practice. An action from the SHE committee was on GL and MC to be involved in the workshop in October at the Bristol Depot. It was also noted that Lynn Chamberlain-Clark the Culture Change Agent was also involved.
AP asked if there was a procedure on how success is monitored for this workshop. AP stated that she was more than happy to get involved and help develop the process.
IVRS Radio System
MC raised an issue on IVRS, there was an issue in East Midlands area which had not been resolved, and there was great concern in relation to the reliant on mobile phones. MC asked what communication systems NR had in place other than mobile phones in axle counter areas. MC asked what communication track workers had in contacting signallers other than mobiles.
MCa stated that it was no different from the past they have SPT/mobile phones. MC asked if NR were reducing the safety protection for track workers in connection with their communication with signallers where axle counters are installed in place of track circuits. MC stated that patrollers and track staff do not have a secure measure they only have mobile phones. DA stated that the IVRS Radio system was used to locate where the track worker was and contact the signaller and he stated that a meeting had been booked at Westwood to discuss the issues with the Lead Union Reps.
It was noted that Martin Frobisher was in contact with MC re the issue that had been raised in the East Midlands area.
Action 2 - PC to drop CH a note on the issue and it will be sent to the Safety Risk Group who will deal with the issue.
TSSA
The following issues were raised by TSSA:-
Structure access to workplaces for FT reps for recruitment of safety reps
More information was needed on this item and It was agreed that this item would be deferred to the November meeting.
Accident Investigation Course for Safety Reps
It was agreed that DM would send further details to LP who would assist with getting nominated people booked onto the courses.
Draft Smoking Policy
IH stated that there were some concerns on the wording of the document, the issue was not clear and it was agreed that IH would speak with EB who had raised the item and send more information to CH.
Vegetation Clearance
IH stated that there was an issue on safe access on walking routes and that this had been raised through local maintenance meeting but the issue had not been resolved. CH asked IH to contact the person involved and implement the work safe procedure. IH to send full details to AB.
UNITE
The following issues were raised by UNITE:-
“New” Driver Handbook
It was noted that the Road Rail Vehicle Group was now dealing with this.
Managing Rail Staff Fatigue
JS asked what guidance has been offered to management, AB stated that the standard has been reissued. CH stated that Allan Spence who chairs the Track Worker Safety Group has set up a working group on Fatigue needs TU involvement and it was noted that MC would sit on the group.
3 / Special Topic Presentations
Sentinel – Richard Elliott
Richard Elliott, Programme Manager gave an update on Sentinel. The presentation is attached to the minutes of the meeting.
A discussion as held and the following to note:-
It was noted that the TU’s Rep were Paul Clyndes and Ian Henry and there was no TU rep from UNITE.
RE to update quarterly at the National Safety Council meeting to further update on Sentinel.
AC asked how the new card was going to be managed. RE stated that the Track Worker Safety Group was looking at the process with regards to checking the cards etc.
CT asked if it was for everyone on the railway or just for PTS, RE stated that could be possible.
MC asked what level of detail was on the card e.g. name, photo, barcode, chip etc he stated that it was a lot of responsibility on people, equipment and the process. RE stated that there will be levels of back up.
AC asked if symbols were going to be on the card, RE stated they would be, AC said not everyone knew what the symbols were, RE said details would be sent out to all concerned.
MC stated that if someone had a permanent medical condition then it should be included on the card.
4 / Review of Safety Performance
Update of significant accidents/incidents
Lee Parlett, Corporate Investigation Manager gave an update on the following accidents/incident investigations from April to June 2012.
· Manchester Piccadilly irregular working – 13th April
· Esher GRP scaffold collapse – 14th June
· Shrewsbury derailment – 7th July
· Syston South Jn wrong routing – 9th July
· Letterston Jn derailment – 9th July
· Bulwell staff struck by train – 6th August
· Lydney VMS signal failure – 19th August
· Tenby excavator overturned – 2nd September
The slides provide a summary of the findings of relevant RAIB and Network Rail-led ‘serious accident’ formal investigations presented to Tactical Safety Group/S&SD Executive since the last meeting of the Council.
Presentation slides attached to the minutes.
MC stated that on some of the accidents/incidents above there was no TU representation LP to check to see if they were invited to sit on in the investigation.
5 / General Feedback
CH stated that the agenda for future meetings needed modifying and to make sure that the correct items were being placed on the agenda. It was noted that MC was to re-iterate the process with the TUs for getting items on the agenda.
CH to send out agenda requests for the meeting in November.
Next Meeting:
Date and time: / 30th November 2012 / Venue: / Kings Place, London, Rotunda Room 4
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