TO BRANCHES WITH MEMBERS IN BT OPENREACH

Dear Colleague,

BT Openreach - Rail Safety Awareness

A number of enquiries have been received from Branches regarding changes to the accreditation for people working railway property.  The following information may therefore be helpful.

Previously, Rail companies required people working on their sites to be trained to Personal Track Safety (PTS) standards even if they are only working on concourses / shops / offices on their premises, which is about 99% of our work at these sites.   Following an audit by a company working on behalf of Network Rail, it was decided that the current process requiring our people to have full Personal Trackside Training (PTS) for working on Rail Sites including shops and concourses was unacceptable.

Network Rail were approached with a view to putting together a course that would provide suitable awareness of safety related issues on Network Rail sites without the need for PTS.  Network Rail accepted that the need for PTS for 99% of our work was unnecessary and overkill.  They themselves were looking to provide suitable levels of awareness training for some of their people to replace the need for PTS and welcomed the idea of a joint venture.

It was agreed by both parties that Network Rail and BT would work together to ensure that they were satisfied with the course content and where necessary would provide some of the content.  Before the project began Network Rail sought and obtained the agreement on the way forward with other Rail operators.  The training course was put together and the content agreed by Network Rail and other Rail operators

The agreement was that the course would be a pass / fail scenario - on successful completion of the course photographic identity cards (similar to PTS cards) would be issued to people.  These cards would have the Network Rail logo on and would be issued by a company called Capita who manage the PTS process for Network Rail.

These cards would enable BT engineers to work in Network Rail sites, shops and concourses but would not let them walk to signal boxes unattended, unless there was a designated walking route.  Where there are no designated walking routes to signal boxes and other trackside locations engineers with PTS would have been able to walk to them, but now with the BT Rail Safety awareness card they will need to be accompanied by a fully trained Controller of Site Safety (COSS). This service will be provided by, where possible, a Network Rail operative - if not via a contractor.

Currently there is still a requirement for people to have PTS when actually working on or near the line - even when there are COSS, persons in charge of work (PICOW) site lookouts, etc supervising our people.  Openreach is in discussions with Network Rail Safety to enable our people to work on or near the line with the appropriate supervision using the BTRSA training.  The logic behind this being that currently engineers who are PTS trained rarely go on or near the line (if at all in some cases) from one year to the next, do not use the skills they had been trained on and would be in no better a position than someone with the BTRSA card.  

Openreach surveyed people who held PTS cards asking how often they had needed to use their PTS cards in the last 12 months and the responses have been shared with the Union.  It should also be noted that some of the respondents had never needed to use their PTS training in all the years they had been trained.  The change to the new BT rail safety awareness scheme will eliminate the need for compulsory drug and alcohol testing previously associated with the PTS accreditation.