Campaigning for higher health and safety standards at work, and opposing the employers' shortcuts
We at the Bakerloo Line have been subjected to ear splitting excess wheel screech for the past 4 months. Originally drivers were told to wear their ear defenders. These would be the ones SQE told us we don't need. The ones that are no longer part of our PPE. We have asked for a local investigation into the root cause of the problems. Surprisingly our PM turned this down!! It is now time to up the ante.
Carl Campbell is the latest Victoria Line driver to pay the ultimate price for the lack of investment by Victoria Line management in Correct Side Door Enable equipment (CSDE), enjoyed by drivers on all other London Underground lines. In fact, Carl paid the price despite the fact that the panel at his Company Disciplinary Interview accepted the video evidence that the pilot light could have only “flickered” off and on and that the doors could not have been open in any reasonable interpretation of the word.
As a result of RMT reps harassment of management, we have been able to secure a local investigation into the disturbing events that took place on Saturday February 7 at Piccadilly Circus,which resulted in the absolute loss of confidence in the OPO monitors. This will enable us to drill down exactly the failings that occurred. We shall also be questioning the flagrant disregard of the procedure following an employees refusal to work under the grounds of Health & Safety.
This weekend has raised serious questuions about the robustness of the fabled datum mark alignment system. A driver reported that although the datum marks looked as though all was well,he was unable to see a set of double doors at the front of the train. This raised a real concern as to the confidence we can place in this system,and as a result the driver asked for all Cat A staion platforms to have a member of staff to enable safe despatch. This reasonable request was surprisingly turned down.
Two recent ‘wrong-side door openings’ by drivers on the Victoria line have highlighted a potentially lethal anomaly concerning that line. Trains on all lines have a ‘correct side door enable’ (CSDE) system built in, a system which prevents drivers from accidentally opening train doors on the wrong side. All lines, that is, except the Vic! Yes, believe it or not, the Victoria line does NOT have CSDE, despite the potentially lethal consequences of a wrong-side door opening event. So how did this come to be?
X marks the spot!
RMT press release, issued today
LONDON UNDERGROUND’S biggest union has urged the company to withdraw an “astonishing and potentially highly dangerous” instruction which will require drivers to ask passengers to push carriage doors closed in tunnels.
RMT is seeking urgent discussions with LUL over an ‘Operation Standards Notice’ which will also require drivers to move trains through tunnels even if they are not certain that carriage doors are closed.
This resolution, submitted by Finsbury Park branch, was passed at the October 2008 meeting of the Regional Council
You may be aware that the LUL Connect Radio System and the emergency services Airwave system both use Tetra Wave Radio technology. Safety reps have recently received a shocking copy of a Police Federation Report questioning the safety of Tetra Wave Radio as shown at
The TUC has produced a useful guide to issues surrounding menopause. If you are going through 'the change', or if you are an RMT rep, you will find it useful to download and read this document to check your rights and what allowances management should be making for you.
To download it, click on the file name below.
Its official: no one seems to know!
After numerous meetings with management, Connect experts and a series of TETRA wave boffins, the Train’s Health and Safety Council are none the wiser about the effects of TETRA waves on the health of our members.
Given that we are mere drivers this is hardly surprising. More worryingly, at a recent TETRA conference organised by LU, the head of LU’s Occupational Health and an eminent expert in the field, brought in for a questions and answers stint, could not give guarantees about the safety of this new technology.