Supplementary memorandum from Tube Lines
(PPP 04a)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This memorandum is designed to supplement
the oral evidence given on 7 November and to provide some further
information on safety and communications within Tube Lines, in
response to some of the concerns raised by the witnesses from
the trade unions.
2. SAFETY IS
A TOP
PRIORITY
2.1 Safety is our highest priority at Tube
Lines and we are totally committed to guaranteeing the safety
of both passengers and our employees. Safety is at the heart of
all of the work which we do on the railway, we have a dedicated
health and safety sub-committee of the Board chaired by the Chief
Executive, and safety is also the first item discussed at every
Board meeting and every Executive team meeting.
2.2 The network has become safer in recent
years. For example, the number of broken rails has been cut by
90% in the last three years and the number of technical SPADs
(signals passed at danger resulting from faults with the signalling
equipment) has halved over the same period. The number of open/unresolved
regulatory notices issued by London Underground around safety
concerns has gone down from over 290 at the time of transfer to
just four at present.
2.3 The railway has become a safer place
for our people to work. They are four times less likely to suffer
an injury in the workplace than they were at the time of transfer.[11]
2.4 Furthermore, our employees feel that
safety is taken seriously. In our 2005 employee survey, 92% said
they felt safe in their jobs and 86% felt that health and safety
is a top priority within the company.
3. A UNITED APPROACH
BETWEEN LONDON
UNDERGROUND AND
TUBE LINES
3.1 There is a united approach to safety
across the network. There is no fragmentation.
3.2 We, like all organisations working on
the Underground, operate under LU's Safety Certificate and Authorisation
(commonly known as the safety case), which is approved by the
Health and Safety Executive. Our main safety standards are either
set by London Underground (LU) or approved by them. The safety
training provided to our employees is identical to that provided
to LU employees.
3.3 Contrary to a suggestion made at the
oral evidence session, representatives from Tube Lines do attend
LU's principal monthly Health and Safety Executive Committee.
There is a monthly safety standards partnership meeting involving
ourselves, LU (and also Metronet), a six monthly meeting involving
all parties and the HMRI and a three monthly joint forum with
the unions.
3.4 Details of all significant incidents
and lessons learnt are shared between LU and the infracos. In
addition, all parties can track the progress of investigation
reports into safety incidents.
4. A UNITED APPROACH
BETWEEN TUBE
LINES AND
OUR SUB-CONTRACTORS
4.1 The same safety regime operates for
everyone working on a Tube Lines site, whether they are an employee
or a contractor. All contractors undertake the same safety training
as our employees. A Tube Lines Health and Safety Manual is provided
to all contractors as well as employees, setting out the safety
standards which operate on Tube Lines sites. All contractors and
employees receive a site briefing every night, prior to starting
work, and major upgrade sites run a brief induction programme
for operatives working on the project, before the programme begins.
These briefings are identical for employees and contractors.
4.2 Tube Lines monitors the safety performance
of its contractors rigorously. A senior employee is allocated
to scrutinise each contractor, to ensure that safety standards
are maintained and lessons learnt are shared. The performance
of major contractors is regularly audited and there is also a
league table of contractors to encourage competition and drive
up standards. Any under-performers are required to undertake a
stringent programme of corrective action. We also have a team
of health and safety advisers who make unannounced visits to work
sites to ensure that safety standards are maintained and contractors
feel safe on the job.
5. THE SAFETY
CONCERNS OF
OUR EMPLOYEES
ARE TAKEN
SERIOUSLY
5.1 Any employee who feels unsafe in doing
their job or a particular task has a legitimate right to refuse
to undertake that particular task and for this decision to be
respected by their manager.
5.2 Employees can raise concerns about safety
in a number of formal and informal ways, including the following:
— by logging a call with our 24/7
fault reporting centre;
— by placing a call with CIRAS,
the rail industry's independent confidential reporting hotline;
— through their industrial relations
channels;
— through their monthly team briefings;
or
— to the chief executive, through
the employee magazine or the monthly breakfast session which is
open to all employees.
Indeed we encourage employees to raise any safety
concerns which they have so that we can do more to prevent incidents
rather than simply respond to them.
5.3 When employees raise concerns, they
are dealt with in various ways. Some incidents are dealt with
locally, by the line manager. All calls referred to the fault
report centre are formally documented with actions drawn up to
prevent similar safety incidents taking place in the future. The
number of incidents each week is reported to the Executive team
meetings and the most serious discussed in some detail at those
sessions. If incidents are reported to CIRAS, the relevant team
within Tube Lines puts together a response plan together with
CIRAS, and this is then reported back to the employee who raised
the concern, whose confidentiality is respected throughout the
process.
5.4 In addition, the Health, Safety and
Environment Committee, which is a sub-committee of the Board,
meets monthly to review all major safety issues which have occurred
over the previous month and take a strategic overview of lessons
which need to be learnt.
5.5 Employees' safety concerns are taken
very seriously and are dealt with rapidly: calls reported to our
fault report centre are addressed within minutes or hours and
the safety issues considered at the weekly Executive meeting are
all those which have occurred in the previous seven days.
5.6 Employees are informed of the various
ways in which they can report safety concerns at their induction
and then at their basic safety training course, which they complete
when they join and are required to repeat every two years. In
addition, we run a more advanced safety training course for frontline
employees which is accredited to NVQ Level 1. 80% of eligible
employees have taken and passed this and the remainder will complete
the course by the end of 2007.
6. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
6.1 There was a suggestion in the oral evidence
session that communication around the company is poor and that
employees are uncertain on how safety issues are addressed. This
is emphatically not the case.
6.2 As noted above, regular safety training
keeps employees informed on how they can report safety concerns.
Our regular employee communications outlets keep people informed
on the way in which safety is managed, any new initiatives and
changes to the way in which safety is addressed. These include
a weekly newsletter, a monthly magazine, a monthly team briefing
centred around a monthly performance report which has details
of safety performance and any key incidents, an intranet and other
ad hoc communications.
6.3 In addition, there are regular safety
campaigns focused around topical issues (such as avoiding injuries
caused by winter weather) which serve to reinforce safety messages
and remind employees on how to raise concerns.
6.4 Our survey suggests that employees are
satisfied with the communications they receive about what is happening
within the company. In 2005, 72% said they were satisfied with
communications—a rise of almost 30% from the 2003 survey.
80% of employees said they read the various communications which
are issued. In addition, we have received a number of awards for
excellence in internal communications.
7. COMMUNICATIONS
WITH THE
UNIONS
7.1 The forums which we have for communicating
directly with our employees are complemented by those which we
have with the unions. We place great store by having a constructive
working relationship with the unions at all levels and we are
keen to give them every opportunity to raise any concerns they
have with safety and deal with them appropriately.
7.2 In addition to the three monthly forum
with the unions involving LU and Metronet, Tube Lines has its
own Health and Safety Forum with the unions, chaired by the Director
of Health, Safety and the Environment, at which lessons learnt
from incidents around the business are discussed. There are other
health and safety forums at local level. All of this is in addition
to all of the other more general lines of communications between
the business and the unions, which include:
— a six monthly review between
the chief executive and all of the union general secretaries to
discuss key business issues;
— quarterly company council meetings
involving local representatives, national officers and Tube Lines
managers;
— local forums in various areas
of the business; and
— informal contacts at various
levels of the business.
7.3 We seek to involve the union representatives
as much as possible in what we do. They participate in investigation
reports, following safety incidents. We also seek to engage them
in new initiatives and in the development of projects, to get
their buy-in and ensure any concerns they have are dealt with
at an early stage. Finally, we give our representatives release
from normal duties to carry out union activities.
8. CONCLUSION
8.1 In all that we do, we are committed
to continuous improvement, but we do believe that we have made
huge strides in safety since transfer and that we have successfully
engaged employees in the progress we have made.
October 2007
11 Figures based on lost time injury rate recorded
by Tube Lines. Back
| 
