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Person Under a Train @ Kenton 12/03/2010


After sterling work by the RMT H&S reps on the Bakerloo Line we have forced management into a climb down over the refusal to meet with us to discuss the worrying events of last Friday. They are now due to meet with us this afternoon,16/03/2010
Below is the letter given to all Bakerloo drivers today:

One-under at Kenton 12-03-10

Colleagues:

As you will be aware by now there was a very serious one-under at Kenton Station last Friday, 12-03-10. As a result of the way this one-under was dealt with, the RMT safety reps have serious safety concerns regarding the operation of our railing on the Network Rail section of the line.

The driver on the front made 4 unanswered mayday calls to the Network Rail controller. As yet we have had no explanation of how this could happen. This raises serious safety concerns about the functionality and operability of the Connect system on the Network Rail section. It took over 20 minutes to get traction current discharged.

We also were advised that there was only one member of ‘agency’ staff on duty at this location when the incident occurred. It has been reported to us that this ‘member of staff’ was untrained/unlicensed/unqualified to assist the driver with this incident. It is also reported that the ‘member staff’ did not know how to power down gates to assist with the evacuation; as a result, the emergency services had to climb over the gates to assist with the incident.

Your safety reps have requested an emergency ad-hoc meeting to discuss our concerns and get assurances about safety; this meeting was denied by the Queen’s Park TOM.

We believe that we should have a radio that is answered promptly and suitably qualified personnel at all locations north of Queen’s Park to assist with such emergencies. This is not too much to ask.

The RMT have formally asked LU to suspend services north of Queen’s Park until such time that assurances about safety can be given. We do not expect LU to agree with this request. In the meantime, any driver who feels that it is unsafe to drive north of Queen’s Park, until assurances about safety are given, should advice the their manager that they are refusing to work on the grounds of Health& Safety north of Queens Park and ask to speak to their local RMT H&S rep.
By law you have to right to refuse to work if you feel it is unsafe to do so. Any driver who does refuse to work on the grounds of safety will receive the full backing of their union.