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Stations and Revenue Control Safety Council Staff Side Update December 2012

Winter Weather

The RMT industrial position is that as a working practise, staff clearing snow is something we do. However, the TSSA have a different view that they do not believe it is a job that staff should carry out
However, the safety issues including work place risk assessments, protection and equipment still remain. We continue to raise these with LUL both locally and at council level, and have also issued a special bulletin and pro-forma that is separate from this update giving advice on protection

ELCPS (EMERGENCY LOCAL CONTROL PANELS)
These are mainly for supervisors on the central line, and are generally found where there is a reversing point, sidings, points or a depot. We have been asked to commit to a simple procedure that when the main service centre becomes faulty, supervisors are to use the elcp to switch to “though running”. This is a procedure that would at least need local training, and we are the process of discussing what that shall be.

Rail 150
Next year is the 150 year birthday of London Underground. To this effect, there will be certain events to mark this. One of the major events is the running of a steam train between Olympia and Moorgate. The main areas that this will effect are. Earls Court, Gloucester Road, Paddington, Bond Street (for Notting hill gate) Baker Street, Kings Cross and Liverpool Street, plus Revenue Control at Baker Street. On the stations side, there will be 2 major problems.

The train will be running in a normal traffic day-so the train before and after it will be normal LUL trains-this may cause issue with ordinary people around. The second, which is more important is members of the public wanting to get a glimpse of this train-having researched it with reps from national rail, I understand that some of the people that follow steam trains can be quite militant and have stacks of equipment- we have made it clear that we expect police on every platform (already agreed) and a full review of staffing and the CCEPs. There will be several trial runs, the first being the early hours of Sunday 16th December. Ross Marshall and Yogi Pankhania from the council will be taking part in the trial which runs from Earl’s court to Moorgate and then back to Edgware Road, we shall report back on that next week.

Please note that we are only dealing with safety issues- We are aware that many of you will want to go on the steam train, and LUL are looking at how they can get as many staff involved as possible, HOWEVER, that issue is not something that we are dealing with so I would appreciate you wait until announcements are made via OTM and the Intranet.

Manual Boarding Ramps
The ramps have in general been a success, and as I am sure you are aware, the trial has been extended. We have raised additional safety concerns regarding communication of members of the public who request use of these and procedures if a train has to non-stop or over-carries and we continue to request additional staff resource for this activity. The procedures are nearing completion but our requests for additional resources are falling on deaf ears. Having said that, the national executive of the RMT have fully welcomed the idea and are now pushing for them to become permanent fixtures on LUL.

Supervisors doing OPO Assurance
Mainly for the Northern line, supervisors will be soon doing daily checks of the in-cab CCTV to make sure the OPO equipment is working correctly. This is vital for the PTI.

SRT lockers
This matter is now being progressed well by the local reps and the SRT GSM and location (s) will be known soon

Staff fixing ticket office chairs or any other equipment
Following on from several complaints regarding Indescasa chairs in particular, a management circular and an incident involving a signal, London underground have confirmed that they do not want staff attempting to maintain or fix anything broken that they are not trained to do so. We urge you all to take this on board. Don’t maintain or fix, simply report.

Supervisor’s meal breaks
This is now one of the biggest problems that we are dealing with-the abuse of supervisors meal relief cover. Whilst this has an industrial angle, it is also very much a safety issue- you must legally take a break after 6 hours-regardless of whether you have been paid a DMR to not take it at the allotted time. This matter is now in the hands of council management and we await a reply.

Just repeating an earlier circular on entitlement of a break and the right not to accept a DMR-There is one thing that we wanted to re-affirm to all station staff ......You have a LEGAL right to a meal break, which means you are under NO obligation to accept a DMR/Overtime....and yes, if that means you have to close your station then so be it...

It is London Undergrounds responsibility to provide cover...we have had reports of supervisors being told they can only have a meal break if they find their own cover or being told they have to accept a DMR....total rubbish-if you want your meal break, at the allotted time, then you have every right to take it. (Every supervisor roster has a spefic meal break time-all rosters are on the intranet)

Now nobody wants station closures so if you do get to work, want your meal break at the allotted time, and there is no cover make sure you tell your DSM and the Service manager as early as possible when you are going on your break so they get time to try and find somebody-make it clear to them that you will be shutting your station if they cant get cover...

Supervisor’s meal breaks at night.

This question has been asked several times-the procedure is as follows (which has been agreed by management and unions some 6 years ago)

It has been agreed that S/S should not leave the station whilst on nights. You must advise any contractors, cleaners etc and the service manager when you are taking your break- display a sign on the office/mess room that you are on your break from (for example) 0300-0330 and that you are not to be disturbed. If you are disturbed, then you must log it, EIRF it and then claim 30 minutes overtime.

In Car Control
Can we make it clear that the controlling of lifts from inside the car is a last resort It should not be used for normal day to day running, for “enhanced customer service etc. This is a long standing agreement with LUL directors that goes back some 6 years. When lifts need to be manually controlled, they should be done from the outside on the panel via landing control. The only place that we are aware of and have approved the use of in-car control is Westminster, and that is with several local controls.

Service Alerts (Good service/minor delays/server delays/service suspension)
In response to many complaints, we have been pursuing the issue of false/wrong/inaccurate service alerts, with the Northern Line currently the worst offender. Council management are now reviewing how each line defines what their service is, i.e. what is the criteria for a minor delay announcement, etc. and will report back within 4 weeks. Once we have a clearer understanding we will decide what action to take.

There have been several assaults resulting from announcements giving false/wrong/inaccurate information and so can I ask that any member of staff completing an EIRF for a staff assault and where this is a contributory factor it is made clear on the EIRF.

Platform Destination boards showing trains to a destination when the last train has already gone
You may be aware that following a referral to council from Heathrow Group, we decided to gauge the extent of the problem elsewhere. The response we got was very concerning so we raised this as a generic issue alongside the specific referral. What we have been told is that the Piccadilly line system is linked to the signalling, and it is not as simple as just changing the boards. LUL have assured us that they are actively looking at an engineering solution. Until then, white boards, P/A’s etc must continue to be used, and workplace violence will be monitoring any assaults

Change of Rep/Staff Side Secretary
Ross Marshall will be leaving the council as of the 1/1/2013 as his term of office has come to an end. He will be replaced by Vic Parmar from Jan 2013 until Dec 2015. Dave Phillips will be acting staff side secretary from 1/1/2013 until a new secretary is chosen.

Christmas Availability
Most of us will be available over the Christmas period.