Feedback, assessment and information considered as part of investigation.

Transport for Wales Rail train

© TfWR welcomes safety concerns

Concern

A reporter to CIRAS was concerned about safety culture at Transport for Wales Rail Limited (TfWR). They also said TfWR welcomes safety concerns internally, but staff often don’t receive feedback about what has happened in response. The reporter also believed that staff with safety responsibilities were not assessed regularly and not always updated about changes to working practices and safe working methods. Finally, they highlighted inadequate communication to station staff on how to raise certain issues or who to contact.

They asked TfWR to:

  • update anyone who raises a health and safety concern, and give feedback
  • keep staff with safety responsibilities informed about changes to working practices and methods of working safely
  • give all station staff adequate briefings on who to contact if there is a maintenance, structural or safety-of-the-line issue.

TfWR's response

Colleagues can raise concerns internally with their manager/supervisor, via their union safety rep, through our ‘talk to us’ email (talktous@tfwrail.wales), or by contacting anyone in the health, safety, environment, and quality (HSEQ) team. With all these methods, the person raising the concern must receive feedback, formally or informally. If a colleague feels they have not received feedback or it is unsatisfactory, they can contact CIRAS or escalate through management or union mechanisms.

At our periodic team and safety meetings, we have reminded all management and supervisory teams of the importance of giving feedback to colleagues who raise concerns. To assess colleagues with safety responsibilities, we have a competence management system. This includes quality assurance checks and is subject to audit. Our HSEQ team sets the standards required and the frequency of assessments, in line with industry good practice. We monitor that this is adhered to and can confirm that it is. Managers/supervisors brief teams about updates to working methods.

Our investigation has found all briefings have taken place, but we would be eager to hear from colleagues who feel they have not been briefed or need more information to operate safely, so we can remedy this. We also recognise the need for up-to-date reporting information and have now additionally briefed station colleagues on methods and contacts for the issues mentioned in the CIRAS report.

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