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Stations and Revenue Control Safety Council Staff Side

Stations and Revenue Control Safety Council
Staff side

General Update

Jan 2012

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General Update

Aftermath of Person under train incidents-storage of bodies.

Following on from consultation on this matter, we attended a meeting on 12th Jan.
We made it clear that that wouldn’t comment on whether we agreed with body storage, however we did ask for guidelines to be adhered to when choosing a suitable room-please see extract from management email on the subject.

The following rooms MUST NOT be identified as suitable location
Mess Rooms (of any kind including staff, cleaners, contractors, L&E etc)
Multi Faith rooms
Locker rooms / toilets
Offices used by staff (including ticket offices)
Rooms that are required to be frequently accessed by staff
The following rooms MAY be identified
Store rooms
Leaflet rooms
First aid rooms
Disused offices
Disused rooms
The following room should be avoided.
Pump rooms
Switch rooms
Boiler rooms
Rooms susceptible to high temperatures
If no other suitable room can be found further advice should be sort from SQE/ contingency planning.

Station staffing problems

The company have now recognised that there are some serious problems out there regarding both the ability to run stations on the low numbers and the fact that some stations are regularly unstaffed. The input that we have had over the last 2 weeks from stations staff in response to a request for evidence on this subject has been superb, and it shows the depth of the problem.
London Underground has agreed to a request for a special safety council meeting on the topic. This meeting will be held on the 1st of Feb.

The Stations Safety Council also sent a formal statement to LUL....

“Its is our honest held belief that unless the problem of chronic understaffing is dealt with properly (not plastering over the cracks) then the prospect of a serious incident involving injury and possible loss of life will become inevitable”
A Further report will be sent out after the meeting...

Use of ICSA’s as station minimum numbers/2008 Causaliation Dispute

In 2008, following on from talks at ACAS regarding various issue after both the RMT and TSSA went into dispute, a main plank of the agreement was what was to be written into every section (under 4.2) of every stations CCEP, words below

“All parties agree to a form of words to be included in the emergency plan. Instead of specifying min numbers of different grades of station staff that would be on duty during the traffic day we have agreed that these minimum levels, which have not changed must be

“*Station Supervisors and
* (state number) London Underground Station staff fully trained qualified, licensed and familiarised to a minimum of CSA Level.”

London Underground have now reneged on that deal (and other parts of it) by claiming that ICSAs can form part of minimum numbers. The RMT have referred the matter back to ACAS for urgent attention

Winter Weather-Staff clearing snow of platforms

Industrial Side.
It is not station staff’s job to undertake this duty.
It states in Rule Book 11 7.6 what the Station Supervisors responsibilities are when snow is forecast.
7.6 Dealing with wet conditions and snow at stations
When snow is forecast, you must follow your local instructions and check the station premises.
You must make sure cleaning staff are aware and any equipment needed is available.
During and after a snow fall or when dealing with wet conditions, you must: Station supervisor

• keep floors and platforms clear from a build up of snow or water
• tell customers to take extra care when on or about the station
• Place notice boards advising customers to take extra care as surfaces might be slippery

• use cleaning staff where available.

A Station Supervisor is responsible for the operation of the station areas; if something becomes defective then they report it via report centre. If platforms or station areas need to have snow, vomit or any other unacceptable substance that our customers or nature decide to dump on our stations then that should be reported and a job number obtained.
It is implicit in the Rule Book that cleaning staff have the job of clearing station areas and this is reflected in it with the sentence ‘You must make sure cleaning staff are made aware of what equipment is needed and available’. It is no coincidence that this sentence is provided in the section concerned and is directly before the bullet points (above), as one is linked to the other.

Health & Safety Side.
There has been no workplace risk assessment undertaken into station staff clearing, sweeping and shovelling snow or laying de-icing materials onto station platforms.
There is an obligation under Health & Safety law for suitable and sufficient risk assessments to be carried out relating to every work activity that staff would be expected to perform. This has not happened as far as we are aware. We believe that undertaking this duty whilst the train service is running is inherently unsafe and does not meet the ALARP principle;
The majority of station staff have not received any agreed formal training to undertake this activity, including working with hazardous materials and manual handling, plus there is no agreed staff PPE on stations.
This matter has been discussed at director level, and we are awaiting feedback from management over it.

Station Supervisors Losing the ability to deny access to maintenance staff (AKA Station Access)

This matter has been now at the Office of the rail regulator for some 3 months. They have advised us that the complaint is still be looked at. When we receive an update, we will get it out.