RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2023 :: RMTnews
RAILWAY WORK LIFE AND DEATH PROJECT Union launches new historic health and safety database
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MT has launched a joint historical health and safety data initiative with the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum (NRM) and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick (MRC). The data from the Railway Work Life and Death (RWL&D) project provides a fascinating insight into the past health and safety experiences of RMT members, including risk posed by their jobs and any accidents
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they were involved in. Around 25,000 records from between the 1880’s and the 1920’s from the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS) and National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) – the predecessor unions of the RMT - will be released. Speaking at the launch at Unity House in London, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the project was an important opportunity for RMT members and the wider public
to learn about their rail history. "RMT industrial disputes this year have been about maintaining rail safety practices and we will not allow standards to slip. "Recent train crashes in the US and Greece show the impact on health and safety of cutting jobs and maintenance. "We are committed as a union to keeping our members and passengers safe on our railways," he said. The RWL&D project aims to
make it easier to find out about historical railway worker accidents in Britain and Ireland by providing data about who was involved, what they were doing on the railways, what happened to them and why. The project has been led by Dr Mike Esbester of the University of Portsmouth who has worked with volunteers to transcribe the data they have discovered via a number of routes: compensation for deaths and injuries,