RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2023 :: RMTnews
FIGHTING FATIGUE AND FOR SAFETY Health and safety conference grills the ORR and discusses the impact of fatigue in the workplace
This year the 21st National Health and Safety conference took place in the beautiful city of York with up to 170 delegates in attendance last month. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch criticised the role of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) ahead of a keynote speech to conference by the ORR Chief Inspector of Railways Ian Prosser. RMT has been critical of ORR’s role during the current national rail dispute for failing to exercise its role as the regulator, failing to hold employers to account for their use of insufficiently trained ‘continency labour’ to break the strikes. The union has also raised many examples rail safety breaches caused as a result which the ORR has done
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nothing about. "The ORR has a responsibility to investigate the unsafe use of strike breaking labour and should be holding rail employers to account for their activities. "Our members have reported railway safety breaches on strike days, but this has been ignored by the regulator. "Rail companies have a statutory responsibility to run a safe railway and their approach on strike days so far has been totally unacceptable. "Safety on the railways is at the forefront of our members minds which is why RMT is totally opposed to Network Rail's so-called "modernising maintenance " plans. "The cost cutting agenda posed by these plans, represents a threat to safety
standards, our members wellbeing and to the travelling public. “What we need is investment and a clean industry that looks after the passengers and the environment,” he said. He also spoke about the current national rail dispute explaining that “people are fearful about the future” and how the union has launched the re-ballot campaign - “if we have our people with us, we can move mountains”. “I hope that we win on behalf of all our members and on behalf of all working people in this country.” he said. Delegates focused on the theme of fatigue and current figures suggest that just 41 per cent of workers were getting six hours of sleep, or less
when working days but that this figure rose dramatically to 63 per cent for those who work at night. Shelly Asquith from the TUC dealt with what made workers fatigued and what are the risks. Nicola Healey from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) spoke about how fatigue impacted on safety. Next up ORR Chief Inspector of Railways Ian Prosser addressed delegates about the history of the ORR and explained its role and function. “As a health and safety regulator they can only act in a reasonable extent if they believe there’s a law break and we check legal compliance on control of risk every day by businesses,” he said. In a lengthy session Mr