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A safety net when all else fails

50447 Workers leaving company without valid certification

May 2012 in Network Rail and Suppliers

tagged Rules and procedures Not Specified

A reporter is concerned that workers who are working their notice period and due to leave Telent may find themselves without valid Personal Track Safety (PTS) certification.

The reporter is aware of an instance where a Track Worker leaving the company later found out that they had been working without a valid PTS card in the last week of their employment. This meant they had effectively been working illegally. In addition, the job required special competencies which had also been removed from the Sentinel card.

It appears Telent had called Sentinel to terminate sponsorship of the card without conveying this information to the individual concerned.

 The reporter would like to know:

  • If all staff on site are being checked to ensure their certification is still valid?
  • What the process is for cancelling sponsorship of a Sentinel card when someone leaves?
  • If Telent will investigate how a worker came to be working without the correct    certification?
  • How the scenario described above could be prevented in the future?

  Response from Telent

Telent thank the reporter for bringing their concerns to our attention.

All Telent rail operational staff are required to hold PTS competency for work undertaken on Network Rail controlled infrastructure. Telent are required to operate a competency management system that controls and manages the Sentinel scheme rules as mandated byNetwork Rail Standards. PTS cards are only de-activated and sponsorship removed when an individual has left Telent employment.

As previously stated, all Telent operational staff must be in possession of a valid PTS card when working on the infrastructure. A pre-work check of cards is undertaken prior to work commencing and a validation check using the Sentinel 24/7 hotline carried out periodically. A check of the Telent competency process has shown no instance where a staff member has worked on the infrastructure without a valid PTS card.​

50447