30.10.13
New RAIB recommendations after COSS death at Saxilby
Network Rail should consider reducing its dependence on agency staff in safety leadership roles, the RAIB has recommended after an investigation into a fatal accident at Saxilby last year.
On 4 December 2012, a train struck and fatally injured self-employed track worker Scott Dobson, who was acting as a Controller of Site Safety (COSS). The RAIB found that Dobson was probably distracted by the noise, cold conditions and work being undertaken on the line, and stepped backwards into the path of the train as it passed the work site.
Dobson, 26, from Doncaster, had not implemented a Safe System of Work (a formal requirement for work being undertaken on Network Rail infrastructure), and had never been subject to disciplinary proceedings or other action after two previous safety incidents in the two months before the incident.
The agency that hired him, SkyBlue, did not implement any effective formal review of his performance, and parent company Carillion did not identify that an effective performance review regime was absent.
The RAIB recommends that Network Rail should identify and apply suitable controls to manage risk arising from the use of agency staff in safety leadership roles, or reduce its dependency on such staff. It should also work with companies that hire or use agency staff for any role that involves working on the track. The RAIB also said that Carillion and SkyBlue should review the effectiveness of changes made to their safety management arrangements following the accident.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “The RAIB report into this appalling tragedy shines the spotlight on the dangers inherent in the current working environment of track workers on Britain's railways. Those ever-present dangers are compounded by the use of contractors and agencies and the growth of zero hours contacts and casualisation in this safety critical environment.”
Network Rail is in the process of radically changing its site safety procedures, as explained in the October/November 2013 edition of RTM. The following is from a Network Rail presentation outlining the proposed changes:
What’s the problem – how many of these do you recognise? (or at least acknowledge!)
- We do not believe the current arrangements for controlling site safety in terms of rail risk and task risk are adequate
- The roles and responsibilities of those involved in planning, delivering and checking work are unclear
- The current ‘work packs’ do not provide site, task and time specific information to deliver safe work and tend to be generic
- Some of the key safety roles we need are filled by workers who are not always effectively able to discharge the requirements of the role
- It is not clear on site who is responsible for overall safety and work delivery
- There is an informality about the way some works are planned and carried out – particularly tasks which are seen as routine and particularly those which change
Solving the problem
- Working out exactly who should have responsibility for planning and delivery
- Establishing whether we have too many safety critical roles out there – COSS, PICOP, ES, PC
- Trialling, through the Control of Work group, a new Permit-to-Work system
- Reviewing how many suppliers we have who provide safety critical resource
- Examining the way in which we contract with our suppliers
- Learning how other industries and companies do this successfully
- Reviewing how we train and assure the ongoing competence of safety critical roles
Overarching principles
- The line manager is ACCOUNTABLE for planning safe working practices and for appointing someone RESPONSIBLE for safe delivery of work
- One person will be responsible for safe delivery of work
- The safety management arrangements will be appropriate to the risk of the work being carried out, the hazards present at the location of the work, and the time the work is carried out
- A Permit-to-Work system will be introduced and with it clear roles and responsibilities
- Everyone will comply with the permit and the Lifesaving Rules
What does this mean for you?
- Some safety critical roles, as we know them now, will change or disappear
- Network Rail and principal contractors will take more ownership for safety critical roles
- We expect that less suppliers will be able to meet our new requirements
- The way we contract with suppliers will change. Safety, performance and productivity will be written into the contracts; we will create a framework within which they will work regarding standards for their employees (including training and development); we will seek to move away from zero hour contracts where there is appropriate; we will include requirements on ethical and sustainable behaviours; higher standards and additional controls will be implemented for those in our supply chain who train and assess defined safety-critical roles
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]
(Image: RAIB)