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- Freephone: 0800 4 101 101
- Text us on: 07507 285 887
- Freepost: Freepost CIRAS
- Call me back
January 2010 in Network Rail and Suppliers
Equipment
Central
East Midlands
Concern has been expressed about access points at the depot in Leicester not having standard locks and keys.
The reporter is aware that a certain number of non standard keys are held by staff, but believes that there are times when all the staff holding non standard keys are out of the depot. The reporter is not aware of any keys being kept at the depot in case of an emergency. It is felt that in the event of an accident the use of a non standard lock and key would prevent or at least delay the emergency services and other staff from gaining access to the depot and authorised walking route used to access the track. The reporter feels that this is a serious safety concern and believes that all access points at the Leicester depot should have standard locks and keys.
Additional Information
If it is the case that the emergency services have spare keys or
are aware of where to obtain keys in the event of an emergency, the
reporter believes that should this information be cascaded to staff
it would alleviate any concerns they have.
The Track Maintenance Engineer from Leicester delivery unit confirms that this information was cascaded to all staff at the time of the original report. The gate is owned by DB Schenker (formerly EWS) who fitted a security lock after several instances of trespass onto the sidings which they own when the gate was fitted with a 222 lock. This requires a key for entering on to the live railway infrastructure but not for exiting as there is a handle with a catch.
Keys were distributed to managers at the time. The adjacent signal box which is manned 24 hours a day holds a key for any emergency access for whenever the offices are unmanned.
