09.05.14
Network Rail must police safety-critical track workers
Source: ‘Concerned Railwayman’
I really don't understand. If we look at the number of incidents/accidents in the past few years, they have mainly been down to Network Rail's maintainer. Now, the staff there are not on zero contracts; their main occupation is rail and they cover multiple roles, e.g. team leader, ES, COSS – does it work? No.
What is really needed is for Network Rail to police heavily safety-critical staff, weeding out those who have no idea what they are doing bringing the elite staff to the top.
If we want a safer railway, then we need independent policing (not necessarily the ORR) by someone who will ‘fail’ people if they do not come up to scratch. We should be choosing agency staff not based on commercial pricing but on incident-free days. We should be categorising our COSS and ES staff; not all are fit-for-purpose in all aspects of the role.
COSS NTS course? This didn't prove a thing. If you want the principal contractors to take ownership, then let them vet the agency staff and put them through their paces both indoors and out on site.
Re: New RAIB recommendations after COSS death at Saxilby