Health and safety

Owing to the amount of upgrades with stock and signalling, LU last year allowed the RMT to appoint a dedicated Safety Rep solely to deal with new Upgrade issues. This Rep is Gwyn Pugh from Acton Town Depot.

He has supplied us an update of the burning issues that we will be facing soon.

Code Red: there are plans afoot for Controller to have the ability to stop trains immediately without having to call a „code red‟. The Controller will have a button on his desk that we only have to push for all trains to grind to a halt.

From 'RMT On The Trains' newsletter, August 2008

Members may have already heard of Cross Track Projection or XTP as they like to call it. If you haven’t, you will soon. These are the large projector screens that have been installed, firstly on the Victoria Line, and now on the Bakerloo Line. They will be coming to a location near you soon.

From 'RMT On The Trains' newsletter, August 2008

Connect Radio: The Risks to your Health and Safety

Most lines are now fitted with the all-singing, all-dancing, new shiny Connect radios; 8 years late and god know how much over budget! There are 2 concerns your Trains Health and Safety Council reps have about this system: one is the move to Phase 2, which will see drivers take authority to pass signals at danger over the radio, and the other is the TETRA waves associated with the radio system.

From 'RMT On The Trains' newsletter, August 2008

Following on from the drunken chaos on the Underground on May 31st we eagerly await Boris’s plans for December 31st. Past years have seen the Tube transformed into mobile bars on New Years Eve as revellers get in the party spirit before midnight; then transformed into rivers of beer and vomit as they go home again after midnight. Boris’s alcohol ban is hardly likely to reduce this mayhem. Especially if, as in previous years, free travel is sponsored by a drinks company!

From 'RMT On The Trains' newsletter, August 2008

RMT has been challenging the redeployment procedures that mean that after 20 years service you can be kicked out of your job because your hearing, or something else, is below their standards – only to be replaced by someone with far less safety experience! We have also asked Management to allow staff in medical redeployment to apply for TfL jobs, which now includes Metronet. We believe all medically redeployed staff should be given the offer of at least one job.

From 'RMT On The Trains' newsletter, August 2008

The RMT has written to LUL to say we do not accept automatic doors. It is planned that the new Victoria Line trains are designed so that the doors can open on their own without any safety check from the driver. NO matter what is happening on the platform, the train would just open the doors. They assure us that even after several years this would be fail safe technology and would never open the doors in the tunnel. How do they know that? Easy – the private manufacturers have told them so!