PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY CHAIN
CP5 workbanks by business unit (gross business plan figures) These four regions and three programmes account for
the vast majority of CP5
expenditure. (Source: NR IP National Supply Chain Strategy CP5, May 2013)
Kirby told us: “That’s in pilot phase, not ready to actually roll out but getting to that stage. It will consolidate safety responsibilities and supervisory responsibilities into one role; that new role will be our safety and line management role in the future.
“We’ve got to work with that person closely, so for them to be down in tier 2, tier 3 and the supply chain – that’s really hard to do. This has come from incidents where we’ve looked at the dynamic on site, where you’ve got someone from potentially the second or third tier running safety. Are they really going to feel accountable to stop the job when the person they’re trying to stop will decide whether they’ve got a job again next week?”
It also ties in with the idea of giving longer-term work commitments to fewer suppliers, Kirby said, by ensuring they can employ their own people and rely less on contingent labour.”
Sentinel 2 and an end to multi-sponsorship
Some have suggested Network Rail could also encourage this outcome, and thus safety, by relying less on zero-value contracts, which would in turn encourage employers to use fewer zero-hour contracts.
Responding to this, Kirby told RTM: “In some of our longer term frameworks we’re looking for levels of employment, and in some areas suppliers are giving commitments, saying if we give them committed work, they’ll commit to levels of employment.”
This could be anything up to 90% of staff on a project being direct employees, Kirby said, though he acknowledged there would “always be a need for contingent labour”.
The Sentinel 2 smartcard system, which made the old system obsolete on 6 January, no longer allows multi-sponsorship, and combined with other changes in the industry and the work of organisations like NSARE, the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, there should be higher standards of labour overall.
Kirby concluded: “We’re looking for a step change in safety. Everything we’re doing – about effectiveness, about collaboration, early involvement in design – is about driving towards better levels of safety.”
People
Network Rail is not the only organisation hunting for the best engineers and project managers – as well as the private sector, there are other major client organisations like TfL, Crossrail and HS2, plus other sectors entirely, from oil and gas to the MoD.
Network Rail obviously wants its major
contractors to invest in people and attract the right people, and gave the example of signalling. Kirby said: “We’re looking to work with the three major framework suppliers [Invensys/Siemens, SSL and Atkins] who between them have recruited about 100 new people to be trained as test engineers in the last few weeks – they’ll start on the ground next September. That’s because we’ve given them commitment, and they’ve returned that by
recruiting people.”
He said Network Rail IP has a “good dialogue” with HS2, although major construction will not start until the end of CP5.
Kirby explained: “It’s in everyone’s interest to make sure we come up with solutions, because these are quite long term things, and if we plan for it we should be able to come up with solutions by working with other client organisations to understand the bigger demand.
“If we don’t invest in training people, we’ll end up where we were seven or eight years ago, where because of a lack of investment in people, costs go up because people become scarcer. It starts in universities and schools, encouraging people to pursue careers in engineering where there are specific shortages. It’s about long-term planning.”
RTM’s charity, the UK Rail Industry Training Trust, is seeking to address just this issue – firstly through a series of rail engagement and educational events, Gen Y Rail, beginning early next year. Visit
www.ukritt.com
David McLoughlin
Simon Kirby FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.networkrail.co.uk/industry-and-partners/ supplying-us/cp5-supply-chain-strategy.pdf
rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 14 | 49
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