Dave, Ron and I in the Pouring Rain of the Cumbrian Monsoon Season!
21 Oct 2004
Dave, Ron and I in the Pouring Rain of the Cumbrian Monsoon Season!!
Plumpton not Trumpton 
I went to Plumpton in the middle of our monsoon season on August 12th. My granddaughter thought I was visiting the next village to Trumpton of children’s television fame - but Plumpton is near Penrith. I was impressed that Ron Cameron, Head of Workforce Safety (Maintenance) was there to see an automatic track warning system (ATWS) in use on West Coast. It would have been easy for him to stay in the dry like his predecessors and just read about it, but he was there to see for himself. Also getting wetter by the minute, despite ducking into a site caravan was Dave Peel, UK Director of Zollner - suppliers of the ‘Autoprowa’ family of ATWS equipment.
Foghorns in the wet
Zollner’s origins as makers of foghorns can easily be believed when warnings sound. Their hard-wired system was approved for use by Railtrack in 2002. It uses a 110 volt generated power supply and up to 720 metres can be protected by a single set of equipment. (A brand new 110-volt transformer will soon be available so that over 1,000 metres can be protected.) Elsewhere in Europe, and especially in Germany and Austria, interlinked chains of hardwired Autoprowa are used to provide continuous protection to several kilometres of track during possessions when high-speed track renewal trains are at work. Protected tracks are divided into warning sections, which are interlinked so that each train/machine warning relates to no more than 1,000 metres. Treadles are installed at section boundaries.
‘Hot Swopped’
But at Plumpton, we saw the radio based system, under wet trial conditions, on a two track section of 125 mph line. The work was protected by lookouts with the equipment used in parallel. The Controller of Site Safety explained that 45 seconds warning was required due to the work being done. The 24 strong gang were changing switch and crossing timbers under traffic. He knew his business; he lives in Speke Liverpool and should now be receiving copies of RailStaff for his gang. The treadles were sited 2.3 km away at the strike in points, and we were assured that it took no longer than five minutes to install them, once excess ballast had been cleared. 16mm below the railhead and 10 mm out from it, ensures trouble free operation. Power for the transmitter came from batteries guaranteed to last 8-12 hours, but 27 to 32 hours was achieved in these trials. Not that there can be a problem, the kit has dual plug in points so a new battery can be ‘hot swopped’ into the equipment whilst it continues in use. A suitable aerial had also been erected.
In Germany
In Germany where RIMINI started, the use of ATWS is strictly regulated for safety and economic reasons. No more than 25% of the working time may be spent setting up an ATWS. If more time is needed a different method of protection must be used. Clearly use of a radio-based system significantly reduces the setting up time. More than 200 systems are used every day in Germany where the insurance companies insist, for safety reasons, that one of the thirty appointed track safety providers install and commission every system. DB Guideline 479001 specifies the level of warning sound above the noise of plant and machinery (plus 3dB(A) for collective warning systems. A tamper can produce 107dB(A). Autoprowa provides warnings of between 110 and 126 dB (A).
ATWS in Possessions
Other European countries make use of ATWS in possessions and I have read a Norwegian railwayman’s arguments recommending us to do likewise. Despite recent cutbacks in the German track renewals programme I am still hoping to see for myself the Autoprowa systems installed on their high-speed track renewals trains. Austrian Railways are permanently installing Autoprowa on all their machines. Excavators and small road rail machines are being fitted with Autoprowa light (three years in our approval system but still not approved here!) Autoprowa ZAL is the name of the lightweight collective warning device used; it can produce a warning of up to 118dB(A) powered either by the machine battery or its own 24-volt batteries. The aim is to provide both visual and audible warnings to everyone in the possession, including the plant operators, despite the noise of the machines. Sadly you do not need a long memory to recall tragic accidents here due to unheard warnings of approaching trains or plant.
LOWS 
The ZAL equipment is light enough to be used by fault and point care teams as well as surveyors. Access to red zone restricted areas as well as normal red zones can be protected using this system. It is regularly used elsewhere in Europe for sites up to about 30 metres in length. To avoid the fitting of treadles, Zollner also produce a ZFH radio hand switch to be operated by a lookout with a hand switch. Failure to key the device every 20 seconds results in a warning being sounded. Our inadequate RIMINI standard described these systems as ‘LOWS’- Lookout Operated Warning Systems. So we have a radio system transmitter - ZFS; a receiver -ZFE; lightweight - ZAL and ZFM for machinery warning. But there is more to come! The ‘Z’ stands for Zollner; F is Funk (radio). The other initial letters identify, in German, the use of the equipment. Do I see a possible set of future quiz questions?
Who pays the cost?
Sensibly, Zollner’s like their competitors, use TUV Europe to test and accredit their equipment. TUV Europe certification is accepted by most of Europe, one of the few exceptions is Britain. I have not dared ask nor do I wish to know how much it cost Zollner to get acceptance of their hard wired equipment through Railtrack’s acceptance system. Nor how much they have spent over the last three years in failing to get their radio based equipment approved. Inevitably these costs will be reflected in their prices here. I fear that the higher prices, created by our insistence on separate accreditation, will reduce the level of protection for our track workers since the definition of ‘reasonable’ will take costs into account which are inflated by the unreasonableness of our approval process. If Network Rail mean what they say about cutting costs, why not save some overheads by confining the activities of type approval to new train sets and equipment which can affect the safe running of trains? Surely that is the legislation definition of safety critical anyway?
Our Non-Approval Process
Understandably Zollner have not yet introduced us to their ZFM machinery warning, ZPW portable personal warning, or ZIG individual warning equipment. All of it has been approved independently by TUV Europe of course! Why don’t we trust TUV? If it is good enough for the rest of Europe and has a proven track record as well as independent accreditation, how can we justify duplicating the testing and trials here? Are we even complying with our own legislation? The Railway Plant and Equipment Regulations say that if equipment is approved in one member state it should be accepted here, and specifies a right to appeal to the Secretary of State. But with only one major customer in this country it is perhaps not surprising that no one has yet lodged an appeal. Equally understandable is the growing reluctance of European railway equipment manufacturers to bring their kit here and become expensively embroiled in Network Rail’s (Non) Approval process.
The Future
I can understand Ron Cameron’s motives in putting a low target accident frequency rate as his top priority. But track worker fatalities continue to haunt me. We owe it to the families and friends of the bereaved to do more. ATWS planned and installed by specialists must be best for red zone working, and dare I say it, European experience confirms that is the best way to use it. Fixed systems operated by the signalling system should be mandated as part of all re-signalling schemes. Independent, semi-permanent systems should be used for frequently visited sites, and portables wherever their use, will meet the German RIMINI standard (i.e. the set up time is 25% or less of the working time). Our RIMINI standard needs strengthening, it was watered down to get it past the old Railtrack regime! Finally, with more and faster equipment on our renewal sites, we urgently need to make using ATWS within possessions the norm rather than the exception.
2nd Track Safety Focus Article
Two More Railwaymen Killed On Track, and the Highest Number of Fatalities for a Decade
Two track workers hit by a road/rail excavator
In the early hours of the morning of Tuesday 28th September, between Hednesford and Cannock, the offloading of steel sleepers and rail, for a forthcoming up line track renewal, was nearly complete. Within the possession, four road-railers were used to assist in offloading the steel sleepers. A fifth road rail excavator was available to those working with the Rail Delivery Train (RDT), offloading rail into the four foot of the down line. At about 04.30 in the morning, two track workers, employees of VGC, were struck and fatally injured by the road rail excavator on the adjacent up line. This tragic accident is now subject to an Inquiry by the Railway Safety and Standards Board, and investigations by both the Health and Safety Executive and British Transport Police. The sympathy thoughts and prayers of railway people everywhere are now with the families and friends of those who died, and their four colleagues who were taken to hospital after the accident suffering from severe shock.
Nine railwaymen killed last year
The annual report of the Health and Safety Executive on railways for 2003/4 contains a section on the health and safety of rail employees. No fewer than nine were killed last year, the highest number since 1994/5, and the highest rate per hundred thousand employees since 1992/3. Now the tragedy at Cannock means that two fatalities are already recorded for 2004/5, I hope and pray they will be the last. Last year four were killed at Tebay when they were struck by a runaway trolley; one was electrocuted by the third rail; one died following a collision between two road rail vehicles; another was trapped in the hydraulics of a stoneblower; one fell down a tunnel shaft and a driver was killed after being hit by a car on a level crossing.
The rise in fatalities must stop
The summary to this section of the report makes little reference to these increasing statistics. Instead it stresses the decrease in the number of RIDDOR reportable assaults on railway staff, which fell by 26% by comparison with the previous year! I suggest someone has got his or her priorities wrong! The report also asserts that ‘there were no RIMINI-preventable fatalities’ last year. It qualifies this statement as based on ‘fatalities resulting from a worker being struck by a moving train.’ However, it goes on to identify the ‘lack of significant progress made towards increased use of Automatic Track Warning Systems’(ATWS) as a problem, and in the text expresses concern about the increase in track worker fatalities.
We did it once, we can do it again.
I am not a statistician, but the number of railway track workers killed each year has risen every year since 1996/7. It must be stopped before any more families are bereaved. British Railways Board, like Railtrack, got a lot of things wrong, but achieved fatality free periods of 15 months and more. If we did it once, we can surely do it again. It should be easier if, as I am constantly being told, the equipment used, working methods and our control systems are now superior! But better control systems seem to mean more and more paper? Sadly, RIMINI is now described by many as the form you need to fill in, before you arrange your lookout protection.
Flash Powder Detonators?
Following the tragic accident at Tebay, I was sent a copy of a long letter from a retired railwayman now living in Finland. He recalled an incident when a road-railer was driven 20 miles in the wrong direction, and suggested that it was unrealistic to suggest the use of lookouts when possessions ‘covered wide areas.’ He questioned the need for detonators and hand signallers at the limits of possessions and suggested that gangs working in possessions several miles long, needed better protection within the possession itself. He identified the problem of additional work or gangs being added into a planned possession at the last minute, and recommended the use of groups of detonators or a simple alarm based on a doorbell to protect individual work sites. A ‘flash powder detonator’ to warn by a bright light was another of his ideas.
Europe may be right?
I applaud his interest and concern. Although the West Coast Project has made limited use of ATWS within possessions to warn of movements on adjacent lines, the ideas has not spread yet. With professional possession management and long length possessions it surely makes sense to use ATWS to protect individual work sites? This is not a new idea. Mainland Europe has been working this way for years, and indeed the Austrians are close to completing a safety initiative which includes fitting ATWS to all their rail wheeled plant including road-railers. There is a lot of work still to be done. If others in Europe consider it worthwhile it may even be a good idea for us! The use of these machines has increased enormously over the last few years, due no doubt in part to the manual handling regulations. But they have brought problems. In the Manchester area there were two reported incidents in August (5th and 17th) when road rail vehicles started to run away whilst being on or off track. Smart action by railwaymen stopped these machines and no one was hurt.
Less paper, much less paper.
Network Rail’s Director Safety and Compliance, Chris Leah is to retire on 3rd December after a railway career of 38 years. I remember him as operations manager Strathclyde and worked with him when he first went to Manchester as Divisional Manager. Ian McAllister, Chairman of Network Rail said that Chris’s long railway experience had provided them with ‘important insights into the industry.’ A decision on his replacement ‘will be made in due course.’ Whoever takes on the top safety job in Network Rail needs to re-focus us all on safety. I am convinced that zero track worker fatalities and reduced numbers of accidents are quickly achievable goals. Planning and equipment is better but we need less paper, much less paper. Network Rail’s initiative in training their employees using an innovative approach to kinetic lifting is interesting - but it would have been better had it been an industry shared initiative. However getting railway people to always put safety first will not be achieved by such tangible means.
Safety versus productivity
In his interview with Andy Milne in last month’s RailStaff, Richard Bowker, having been asked what he would miss after leaving the Strategic Railway Authority, said he had never met anyone on the front line who didn’t care and referred to the fact that when asked, people still say ‘I work for the railway.’ At a railway conference earlier this year, Nik Chmiel, Director of Occupational Psychology at Queens University Belfast, made four statements with which I violently agree, and which I commend to Network Rail and whoever becomes their new Safety Director: 1) Safety behaviour is based on the way we think about safety and the work, which we do. 2) Mistaken beliefs include thinking that we are always immune from injury (or worse) ourselves. 3) Positive influences come from others - the commitment of respected management, good safety communications, the support of work colleagues... 4) Safety committees are especially important in helping rationalize the safety versus productivity conundrum.
A bonfire before the 5th!
Risk assessments and method statements are useful tools to help engineers planning work. Check lists can help us remember processes and procedures, but we use too much paper. We are encouraged to do so by those who believe that a paper audit trail must be generated, so that if an accident occurs the cause can be identified as someone’s failure to follow a written instruction. We need a bonfire before the fifth of next month to reduce paperwork significantly for those who do the work. All too often, someone sitting in the front seat of the van, as the railwaymen are driven to site does the briefing. That way the briefer avoids looking directly at the gang, and few questions are asked. Safety meetings, if they take place at all, are often briefings with little encouragement to track staff to take an active role, or raise their own concerns. As Network Rail continues to develop their organisation for maintenance, they are keeping railway people not employed by themselves at arms length. All railway people must work closely together in this great industry if we are to stop killing people!
Build up a safety culture
Railways are all about engineering and operating. Both disciplines concentrate on written standards and practicalities. But I believe that the new Network Rail Safety Director and either John Armitt or Iain Coucher should take action now and launch a safety campaign to build up the safety culture amongst railway people. I said as much back in April, but sadly my words went unheeded. Network Rail is rightly pursuing productivity improvements, but these must not be achieved by reducing safety. A big, well-publicised campaign jointly launched and bought into by every employer of railway people, together with all the relevant trades unions is essential. The Office of Rail Regulation and Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate should be pressing for an early start. Once launched, an individual who is known and respected throughout the industry needs to become identified as the leader of the campaign
Go to site and listen
A monthly safety message from that leader must reach everyone every month. The use of video or CD Rom is better than a newsletter, which may not be read, it is more personal. Without exception, all Sentinel registered staff need to attend safety meetings, with a third of each meeting’s agenda coming from the group members. Their concerns and ideas for improving safety should then be fed upwards. There is no such thing as a bad safety idea! Whoever leads the campaign should devote some time every month to going on site and listening to front line staff out on site. They will appreciate the commitment, and the campaign leader will gain invaluable insights - I know, because I’ve done it!
Unsung heroes and heroines
Railway people have achieved a great deal, and no one was more pleased than I when the West Coast Mainline through to Manchester opened for tilting trains to run at 125mph on September 27th. But there is much more to do, before the upgrading work through to Glasgow is finished next December. Then there are the largely unsung heroes and heroines who are working on maintenance, projects and renewals to bring our railways up to a standard suitable for the 21st Century everywhere. Whoever pays their wages/salaries, our colleagues on the track are dedicated railway people and their management will have failed them if fatalities continue to rise as they have done.