RAIL SURVEYING
The inside track on railway surveying
Mark Combes, vice-president of The Survey Association, discusses the organisation’s new Guidance Note on railway surveying, which is aimed at providing users with the knowledge to plan, access and complete a survey project safely.
In
Note for professionals carrying out survey work on Britain’s rail network. The free reference was compiled in association with Chartered with Network Rail’s technical services, track and civils team.
The Guidance Note is crucial to providing clients and surveyors with the knowledge to plan, access and complete a survey project safely. Without such information the public money spent on the railways is wasted and health and safety
practices breached. The
railway infrastructure can be a dangerous environment in which to work and as a result is heavily regulated, especially with regard to health and safety.
downloaded over 250 times in less than two months, demonstrating that the complexity of these regulations is acknowledged, both by new survey companies entering the rail sector and those with more experience.
Railway Infrastructure Owner (RIO) health and safety regulations can be described under three main categories: the company, the person and the track access safety management.
For work in the UK, the survey company needs must have an approved ‘primary sponsor’. This accreditation is achieved through an audit by Achilles and the company must achieve a whole remit of safety standards and working practices in the discipline/working category in which they are competent.
The base audit module (Industry Minimum Requirements
Module) assesses general
management systems and processes such as management controls, safety risk management, competence management and occupational services that are deemed auditable, and any organisation needing to go through one of the other audit modules, are required to complete this module.
need to pass a safety training course for Before a card can be issued to an individual, a Network Rail medical, alcohol and drugs test must be completed and passed, along with issued and this must be with the individual at all times when working on or about the railway infrastructure. There are exceptions to working on the Network Rail infrastructure without Guidance Note.
Track access safety management relates to the planning and safe execution of the work on or about the line. All work must be planned well in advance, have the correct paperwork and surveyors and engineers to complete their work safely and within the planned time.
When working on the railway, surveyors must always ‘expect the unexpected’ when it comes to the amount of time planned for, on track. Track time is at a premium and even with the best planning it can be curtailed or even cancelled for any number of high-priority
worksite over miles of track and is often the
Network Rail, with the best advice from the always looking to improve on health and safety on the rail infrastructure. The latest edition of the GT/RE8000 Rulebook includes two new abreast of these latest railway updates and will accordingly, through 2015.
About the author
Mark Combes is vice-president of TSA and managing director of The Severn Partnership Ltd. TSA is the trade body for commercial survey companies in the UK. One of its roles is to provide guidance on new methods and experienced companies to the wider audience, such as engineers and architects.
More than 40 technical client guides and guidance notes on aspects of surveying are available on the TSA website. These are updated in line with the latest technology, survey methodology and health and safety regulations.
Mark Combes FOR MORE INFORMATION
W:
www.tsa-uk.org.uk/for-clients/guidance- notes/
rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 15 | 65
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