© Alvey & Towers CRIME & SAFETY
Savings vs safety
Sonia McKay, professor of European Socio-Legal Studies at London Metropolitan University’s Working Lives Research Institute, talks to RTM’s David Stevenson about the impact of effi ciency savings on Network Rail’s staff, performance and safety.
D
uring CP5, Network Rail is expected to deliver effi ciency savings of about 20%, on top of the 20% savings made in CP4.
The Offi ce of Rail Regulation’s (ORR) ‘fi nal determination’ on Network Rail’s funding for the fi ve-year period noted the previous assertion, in Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan, that maintenance effi ciencies in CP5 will come from headcount reductions, improving productivity and avoiding unnecessary work.
At that point, Network Rail forecast a CP5 headcount reduction in maintenance of 1,262 of 15,775 (8%) on the CP4 exit numbers, with the sharpest reduction at the start of CP5.
During CP4 as a whole, the maintenance headcount dropped by about 4,000, and signalling and control by 1,000.
In CP5, signalling and control is the hardest- hit, with a planned headcount reduction of 4,400, partly because of the introduction of the centralised Rail Operating Centres (ROCs).
But what do these effi ciency savings mean on the tracks? And do they compromise any areas of the business – such as safety?
44 | rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 14 Impact of effi ciency savings
London Metropolitan University’s Working Lives Research Institute (WLRI) carried out a study published in July 2014, ‘The impact of effi ciency savings on Network Rail staff , performance and safety’.
Although the study was small-scale, and conducted over a relatively short period of time, the researchers believe its core fi ndings are relevant and replicable.
One major fi nding was that staffi ng shortages seem to have led to the promotion of a culture of ‘putting off until tomorrow the jobs that could not be done today’, simply because the resources to carry them out were not available.
Additionally, as a consequence of budgetary reductions, multiple roles are now expected of many staff . For instance, respondents said that
“Participants were quite clear that there is a senior level commitment to safety…but that
supervisors now held responsibility for safety, budgets and targets. There was a very strongly held view that, at workplace level, safety (regardless of the published statements of senior management on the rail network) had
become
commitment is impeded by what has to happen on the ground and how work is organised.”
secondary to the need to comply with the more concrete demands of budgets and targets.
The report authors were Nick Clark and Sonia McKay, who is professor of
European Socio-Legal Studies at the WLRI. She told RTM: “The industry has undergone signifi cant changes over the last decade or so, and it is possible that in the course of those changes an eye has been taken off issues of health and safety. We were quite surprised at the degree of concern expressed by those in the focus groups over the future of a safe industry.
“What most concerned us was the fact that health and safety responsibilities seemed to be devolved, along with other responsibilities for
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 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164