March JSC Minutes 2009

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SSW JSC(09)1stDraft Minutes 09/001 09/014

Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited

DRAFT Minutes of a meeting of Joint Safety Committeeheld on Wednesday 11 March 2009 at Friars Bridge Court

present: Jan Chaudhry Operations Director (chairman)Christian Roth Engineering DirectorAndrew Welsby Human Resources DirectorBrian Cook Head of Safety and EnvironmentKeith Usher Operational Standards ManagerAndrew Fairbank Head of StationsBarbara Davenport Head of Employee WellbeingGraham Morris District Organiser, ASLE&FDarren Howe Drivers Health and Safety Representative, ASLE&FMartin Dye Drivers Company Council Representative, ASLE&FAlan Martin Health and Safety Representative, Island LinePeter Gale Regional Organiser, RMTRickey Goodman Company Council Representative, RMTBill Read Health and Safety Representative, RMT

John Walsh Health and Safety Representative, TSSAMick Pollek Regional Industrial Organiser, Unite the UnionAndrew Edwards Legislation and Standards Manager (secretary)Steve Morgan Area Commander, British Transport Police*

* present for items JSC09/001 to JSC09/004 only

Apologies for absence were received from:Stewart Palmer Managing DirectorIan Johnston Customer Services DirectorMartin Peakall Head of Operational StandardsIain Anderson Divisional Secretary, TSSA

Item

JSC 09/001 The Chairman welcomed Committee members. The Committee noted theminutes of the last meeting, held on 10 December 2008.

JSC 09/002 The Committee reviewed the items on the actions tracking log. Any actionscarried forward have been recorded on the log, which is appended to theseminutes.

JSC 09/003 The Head of Safety and Environment gave a presentation to Committeemembers on South West Trains and Island Lines safety performance forPeriods 9, 10 and 11 2008/9.

(continued)

JSC2009(1st Meeting 11 March 2009) - Page 1 of 5 -


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JSC 09/003 Safety Performance (continued)

003.01 Performance Indicators

The Head of Safety and Environment advised the Committee that the

performance indicators had been updated to reflect the 2009 targetvalues. As a result, most of the indicators are currently worse thantarget.

003.02 Passenger Accidents

The Committee noted the increased number of passenger accidentsduring the winter period. The TSSA Safety Representative askedwhether station car parks are included in our winter precautions. TheHead of Safety and Environment advised that the station managementteams had produced individual station winter plans based on localpriorities and resources available. Car parks normally are not treatedas priority areas.

003.03 Station Overruns

The Committee noted that station overruns were now broken downbetween all overruns and those classed as driver responsible. TheASLEF District Organiser asked why some of the station overruns thatoccurred during the low adhesion period are classed as driverresponsible. The Operations Standards Manager advised that alloverruns are investigated using OTMR and driver interview and if theinvestigation reveals that low adhesion is the cause then these are

classed as driver not responsible.

The ASLEF District Organiser commented on variations in theperformance of different stock types during the low adhesion periodand asked whether ASLEF could have a debrief on the 2008/09 leaf-fall period in conjunction with the other train operating companiesoperating south of the River Thames. The Chairman advised that thiswould be arranged, depending on the co-operation of Southern andSoutheastern.

003.04 TPWS activations approaching red signals

The Head of Safety and Environment informed Committee membersthat there had been a reduction in the number of TPWS activationsapproach red signals during the low adhesion period.

003.05 Environmental Issues

The Head of Safety and Environment outlined the progress that hasbeen made in improving the amount of waste recycled. The Head ofSafety and Environment advised that energy consumption during

January was higher than the target value, mainly as a result of thecold weather during the month.



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JSC 09/004 The Area Commander of British Transport Police gave a presentation to theCommittee on the London South policing plan. This was then expandedinto a wider discussion on the company arrangements for dealing with crimeand anti-social behaviour.

The Area Commander explained that there has been an increase in the amountof non-notifiable crime as a result of changes in Home Office reporting rules.Cycle crime is a particular problem on the SWT network and the BTP will betargeting prolific offenders during the coming year, although initiatives will bebalanced against the need to put most emphasis on the serious offences thatdiscourage passengers travelling. The Area Commander advised that thedetection rate for offences continues to be significantly higher than the forceaverage and that the relationship with SWT Security and Crime Prevention staffcontinues to work well.

The Health and Safety Representative RMT asked whether there could be a

direct link from the cab-radio to the BTP control. The Committee discussed thepoint and decided that the best opportunity to address this is via a pre-dialarrangement once the GSM-R system becomes operational.

The TSSA Safety Representative asked about the arrangements for viewingstation CCTV evidence as part of the investigation into cycle theft. The AreaCommander explained the reasons why this would not be the best use of policeresources.

The RMT Company Council Representative asked whether the company hadconsidered if there will be a possible rise in crime when revenue protection

staff numbers are reduced. The Head of Stations advised that the currentproposals catered for the retention of local RPI teams and late night blocks.

The ASLE&F Company Council Representative asked about the responsearrangements between BTP and the Civil Police. The Area Commanderadvised that 90% of all calls received are attended by BTP and that all 999calls will be received by the BTP control room as well as that of the Civil Police.

The Chairman thanked the Area Commander for attending the meeting andgiving the presentation on the current position. The Chairman asked theLegislation and Standards Manager to make the necessary arrangements to

invite the Area Commander to give the Committee a further update in 12months time.ACTION (2009-001): Legislation and Standards Manager

JSC 09/005 The Committee reviewed the latest copy of the CIRAS report. The ASLE&FDistrict Organiser explained the reasons behind requesting this item beincluded on the agenda. The Committee agreed that a review of the latestCIRAS report will be a standing item on the agenda.



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JSC 09/006 The RMT Regional Organiser raised the issue ofUnion Inspection Noticesas a means of giving formal notification where the union safety representativebelieves that safety issues are not being properly addressed. The Head ofSafety and Environment advised the RMT Regional Organiser that UnionInspection notices were designed for use in small organisations that did not

have such formalised arrangements as South West Trains has with its TradesUnions. The Committee agreed that the current arrangements were workingeffectively and that introducing union inspection notices was unnecessary.

JSC 09/007 The RMT Regional Organiser asked for clarification on the policy for the failureto agree on health and safety items and advised that HMRI would be contactedif it was felt necessary. The Head of Safety and Environment confirmed thatSouth West Trains have arrangements in place to deal with the issues and haveno problem with the union escalating issues to HMRI if it was felt necessary.

JSC 09/008 The Head of Safety and Environment advised the Committee that one of thecompanys Safety and Environment Plan objectives for 2009 is to establish alibrary ofreference information for safety representatives. The Headof Safety and Environment circulated a list to Trades Union representatives andasked them to review the list and provide feedback on the items included withina month.

ACTION (2009-002): Trades Union representatives

JSC 09/009 The Legislation and Standards Manager advised the Committee that SouthWest Trains will be holding a number ofrisk workshops to review oursignificant risks using the RSSBs Safety Risk Model. The Legislation andStandards Manager advised that he would arrange for suitable nominationsfrom Trades Union health and safety representatives to take part in the riskworkshops, which will take place towards the end of April.

ACTION (2009-003): Legislation and Standards Manager

JSC 09/010 The Drivers Company Council Representative raised an issue regarding fire

extinguishers on trains. The driver of a 4 car class 458 unit was asked toput out a lineside fire using the on train extinguishers. Despite bothextinguishers on the train appearing to be operational (with the needle on theindicator in the green), neither worked when operated. The EngineeringDirector advised that the incident is under investigation. The Committee askedthe Engineering Director to confirm that there is no underlying issue with thebatch of extinguishers.

ACTION (2009-004): Engineering Director



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JSC 09/011 The Drivers Company Council Representative raised the issue of the removalof the groundframe at Bournemouth depot. The Drivers CompanyCouncil representative advised that mainline drivers were given no consultationperiod on the changes originally and when consulted no apparent action hasbeen taken to address the concerns raised. The Drivers Health and Safety

Representative advised that the main concern is the lack of lighting on thedepot stop boards and the instruction given to use flashing headlights as ameans of communication between the driver and the shunter.

The Chairman advised that the removal of the ground frame had been a longtime in the planning but there was a need to sit down and go through all of theissues and that lessons could be learned in how we consult on similar changesin the future.

The Chairman asked the Operations Standards Manager to arrange a meeting

between the Drivers Health and Safety Representative, Drivers CompanyCouncil member and Head of Operational Standards to resolve anyoutstanding issues.

ACTION (2009-005): Operations Standards Manager

JSC 09/012 The RMT Regional Organiser asked for his concerns at the safety implicationsof the current business restructuring to be noted.

JSC 09/013 The Committee considered the topic for discussion at the next meeting andagreed that it should be the way in which we prepare for unexpectedsituations. The Head of Safety and Environment agreed to ask the SafetyStandards and Emergency Planning Manager to give the presentation to thenext meeting.

ACTION (2009-006): Head of Safety and Environment

JSC 09/014 Thedate of the next meeting of Joint Safety Committee isWednesday10 June 2009 and will be held in the Beaulieu Room, Friars Bridge Courtstarting at 13:00.

Please advise the Legislation and Standards Manager of any items for inclusionon the agenda for this meeting by 5pm on Tuesday 26 May, including anysupporting papers.

The dates of JSC meetings for the rest of 2009 are as follows: Wednesday 23 September 2009; and Wednesday 16 December 2009.

Documents

March JSC Minutes 2009