TRAINING
No brake on innovation
A In safe hands
train operator is hailing a big improvement in
safety over the year it has been running its franchise.
A braking systems firm has won a top training award for its communications strategy.
The EEF South West Region Innovative People Practices Award recognises excellence in skills development and enterprise among UK manufacturers.
Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems of Melksham won the award for its intranet hub and ‘tv station’ chronicling real-time business performance and production to improve staff knowledge of everything the company was doing.
Judging panel chairman Steve Evans, Professor of Life Cycle Engineering at Cranfield University, said the company was an exemplar for the region in driving business success through better communication.
He said: “This is just the sort of business British industry needs. The company has listened to its people, asked for feedback and shaped its innovative communications strategy accordingly.”
Terry Slater, regional director for manufacturers’ organisation EEF, added: “Innovative companies such as Knorr- Bremse demonstrate that well- run manufacturing businesses have a very bright future and are critical to the long term economic success of the region and of the country as a whole.”
The regional winners are now competing in the national awards, with the overall winner announced at a ceremony in London at the end of January.
East Coast said that since it took over in November 2009, accidents involving passengers and staff are down 10%, onboard accidents down 29%, passengers taken to hospital down 53% and assaults on staff down 25%.
The number of staff working days lost through injury has been
accidents and a root-and-branch review of safety systems.
East Coast’s Head of Safety and Environment, Mike Kersley said: “There is no room for complacency.
cut in half, from 1,453 in 2009 to around 750 for 2010.
The company has introduced a fast-track review process for
“We have begun to produce positive results and we need to maintain our efforts by constantly reviewing and improving our safety plans and initiatives to ensure we continue to make progress.”
E Tunnel emergency demo tests emergency services
mergency services leapt into action in a joint Anglo-French overnight test examining preparedness in the event of an incident in the Channel Tunnel.
Eurotunnel staff and crews from fire and rescue services, paramedics and police from both countries joined in the exercise on a Saturday night in January.
It is the only safety exercise of its type and magnitude in Europe, costing around €200,000.
The 2011 exercise simulated the breakdown of a Eurostar train in the North Running Tunnel, the evacuation of approximately 100 passengers, of which four required medical assistance, and their onward transfer to Folkestone and Coquelles (Pas- de-Calais) where they were cared for at an Emergency Reception Area (ERA).
More than 150 members of the French and British emergency services, 20 judges and observers, two Eurostar trains and 18 STTS vehicles (Service Tunnel Transport system) were involved.
Tunnel Chief Operating Officer, Michel Boudoussier, said: “The regular organisation of
80 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 11
this type of real time exercise shows the importance which the Group attaches to the safety of its customers, its staff and the goods which are transported through the Tunnel. The completion of such exercises is useful and particularly so in the context of new entrants coming forward.
“It is imperative that the personnel of the rail companies which use the Channel Tunnel are not only familiar with but also completely trained for this very specific environment.”
Eurotunnel and Deutsche Bahn conducted a similar evacuation exercise three months ago, in October, with a view to the German company running
services to London via the Channel Tunnel in the future. That time, 300 participants took part in the exercise, in two separate sections of the train, twice demonstrating that they could all be brought to safety in the service tunnel within 20 minutes.
The Channel Tunnel and the shuttles are equipped with more than 20,000 different control points, sensors and detectors which are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These measures and the existence of a service tunnel, which is accessible every 375 metres, lead international experts to consider this to be one of the safest transport systems in the world, Eurotunnel says.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92