site access controller

Site Access Controller Module 4: The rest of your shift

Module 4: The rest of your shift

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In Bournemouth, Mohammed is enjoying a break after a trouble-free shift so far.

Andreu, a Network Rail operative, arrives back on site in his van after leaving to pick up some food.

On his way in, he throws the wrapper from his burger out of the window.

He continues to eat while he parks the van, and almost reverses into an operative who is walking past.

Mohammed comes over to Andreu to talkto him about his dangerous behaviour. He explains to Andreu why his actions were inappropriate. Just as he finishes reporting the Close Call, someone shouts through the gate, so Mohammed goes over to investigate.

A local man is at the gate, and starts to complain about all the litter being left on the streets by Network Rail, including Andreu’s burger wrapper.Mohammed apologises to the gentleman, takes down the complaint details and reassures him that the issue will be dealt with by the site manager

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Later on, Mohammed is alerted on the radio about a fire on site. He is familiar with the site’s emergency plan and knows it is his responsibility to call the fire brigade

which he does immediately after sounding the site fire alarm.Today has been a difficult and challenging shift for Mohammed.


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Think RISK, Close Calls and Worksafe

It is everyone’s responsibility to keep themselves and those around them safe at work. Thinking about the risk you are exposed to and speaking up if you think the risk is too high is something everyone is empowered to do.

When you Think RISK you may spot a Close Call, which is defined as anything that has the potential to cause harm or damage.

This includes the potential to:

• harm a person including minor and major injuries, and fatalities

• harm the environment and/or protected species

• damage railway infrastructure, plant, vehicles, tools, equipment, systems and information

It is important not to confuse a Close Call with an incident – a Close Call is something that has the potential to

cause harm or damage, while an incident is when harm or damage has been caused and therefore should not be

reported as a Close Call.

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Visit the link below to watch a short video about Think RISK:https://safety.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/THINK-RISK-Launch-

SUBTITLED-Compressed.mp4

https://safety.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/THINK-RISK-Launch-SUBTITLED-Compressed.mp4

https://safety.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/THINK-RISK-Launch-SUBTITLED-Compressed.mp4

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You will need a pen and paper for the activity. Take a look at the picture below and make a note of all the Close Calls you can spot.


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Did you spot all 12 Close Calls? Take a look at the list below and tick the ones you spotted.

ཎ Overflowing bins

ཎ Gate left open

ཎ Uneven ground on footpath

ཎ Insufficient lighting

ཎ Flooded area/large puddle

ཎ Vegetation tangled in cables

ཎ Tools left on the ground

ཎ A worker not wearing a hard hat

ཎ Missing piece of fencing

ཎ A worker being distracted reading a newspaper next to ongoing work

ཎ A worker entering an exclusion zone where a vehicle is making a delivery to the SAC

ཎ A worker using a mobile device while driving in the car park

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Next, look at the potential outcomes of some of these Close Calls. See below to explore the actions you can take as the SAC to prevent or resolve each one.

Overflowing bins A fire starts Empty the bins yourself, or escalate to site facilities

There is a large puddle on site A worker slips over and injures themselves

Cordon off the area, find an alternative route if possible, and include it in the safety brief.

A worker is not wearing safety glasses

The worker gets some debris in their eye.

Remind the worker that they should be wearing the appropriate PPE for the job they are undertaking and ensure they then do so.


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There are three examples of hazards below. Please choose what the potential outcome could be from the options available if the hazard is not acted upon. Remember to always report hazards as a Close Call.

Vegetation tangled in cables

A. Animals from adjacent field access site

B. A fire starts and site loses power

C. A potentially fatal injury and work being carried out incorrectly

Missing piece of fencing

A. A worker gets some debris in their eye

B. A worker slips over and injures themselves

C. Animals from the adjacent field access the site

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A worker using a mobile device whilst driving in the car park

A. A potentially fatal injury and work being carried out incorrectly

B. A potentially fatal injury and damage to property in the car park

C. A worker slips over and injures themselves

Gate left open

A. Close and secure the gate yourself

B. Empty yourself or escalate to site facilities

C. Include hazard in the safety brief and escalate as appropriate

There are three more examples of hazards below, however this time please choose what action you can take to reduce the likelihood of the potential outcome occurring from the options available, before reporting the hazard as a Close Call.


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A worker not wearing a hard hat

A. Stop the work and escalate as appropriate

B. Switch off any power in the area and escalate as appropriate

C. Remind the worker that they should always be wearing a hard hat whilst on site and ensure they put one on

A worker entering an exclusion zone where a vehicle is making a delivery to the SAC

A. Stop the driver, approach the pedestrian, and highlight safe walking route

B. Approach the driver once stopped, highlight speed restriction and mobile usage

C. Stop the work and escalate as appropriate

See page 24 to check your answers.

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Close Calls extend to people’s behaviour as well as the conditions around you.

Other behaviours you may see that would be regarded as a Close Call are behaviours such as:

• A lookout getting involved in the work taking place and not looking out.

• A driver exceeding the recommended vehicle speed on site.

• A supervisor engrossed in a non-work-related conversation with someone and not supervising the activity.

These are all examples of behaviour-related Close Calls and should also be acted on and reported.

If you spot a Close Call or if one is reported to you it is your responsibility to report it to your employer immediately so they can pass the details onto the team at

Network Rail for it to be recorded.

(If it is on a Principal Contractor’s worksite, it needs to be reported via the Principal Contractor carrying out the works)

You should also try to deal with the situation or follow an escalation procedure. Why not go the extra mile and make suggestions for improvements to the Site or Health and Safety Manager if appropriate, especially if it is a reoccurring Close Call.

Asking someone to wear their PPE or cordoning off an area is something anyone can do. Handling unfamiliar tools or clearing vegetation is something a trained individual should deal with so these are items you would escalate instead. Use your best judgement but never leave a Close Call unattended if there is an immediate threat to safety.

Now think back to the first part of this activity and the three hazards with their potential outcomes. What action could you have taken to help reduce the likelihood of those hazards reoccurring, other than just reporting them as Close Calls?


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In addition to Close Calls, everyone is empowered under the Worksafe procedure to cease work immediately if you have a safety concern. Network Rail does not expect you to work in an unsafe manner to achieve results. If you can’t do it safely – don’t do it!

The Worksafe procedure states that you are not expected to do work if:

• you are not competent to do it;

• you do not have the correct equipment;

• there is no safe system of work; or

• you do not have the correct personal protective equipment.

NOTE: This list is for illustrative purposes only and is not exhaustive.

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Cease work immediately, assuring yourself that doing so does not

endanger others, move to a position of safety and contact the immediate

person in charge without delay, explaining why you have stopped work.

If you have a safety concern:

The person in charge will try to reach an agreement with you that either:

• the system of work is safe and that the work can be restarted; or

• work can be restarted using the existing system of work and agreed

additional control measures if considered appropriate.

If no agreement is reached, work shall not restart and the person in charge

will consult their immediate Line or On-Call Manager who shall, after

suitable investigation: conclude the task is safe and direct a return to work;

or amend the safe system of work to everybody’s satisfaction and arrange

a return to work; or agree the task is unsafe – in this case the work site

shall be left safe and employees assigned to other work.

For more information on Think RISK, Close Calls or Worksafe please visit www.safety.networkrail.co.uk

http://www.safety.networkrail.co.uk


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Reporting information

Close Calls are one example of something you should report. Your employer may require several other items to be recorded and reported, such as the updating of schedules. What is reported and the details required can vary with different contractors so check with your employer to ensure you adhere to their requirements.

See below for some examples of what should be reported:

1. Worker attendance levels (planned vs. actual)2. Task, site or any environmental changes as

informed by other workers (varies by contractor)

3. Absent workers4. Potential exceedances in working hour rules

(actual exceedances would be deemed as a Close Call)

5. Diary entries

6. Control reports7. Any defects such as plant or lighting issues, or RRV

(road-rail vehicle) breakdowns8. Work summary detailing end of job information9. Bar charts to record agreed timings10. Public complaints11. Accidents and incidents12. Equipment and PPE issued and returned or not

returned

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Dealing with complaints

Although we plan our works to minimise disruption as much as possible, the work we carry out on worksites can be disruptive to the public. We therefore need to be prepared to deal with any complaints that may arise.

Think about a time when you have made a complaint.

• Why did you complain?

• How did the person you made your complaint to react?

• What type of verbal language did they use?

• When taking your complaint details, if this was face to face, what type of body language did they have?

• Was your complaint resolved? If not, were you still satisfied with the service you received from the complaint handler?

We all have expectations on how the person taking the complaint should behave and how they should speak.

Look at the words below and write a list of all the words that describe a good complaints handler.

• Abusive

• Considerate

• Kind

• Contradicting

• Sarcastic

• Understanding

• Listened

• Clarified

• Harsh

• Attentive

• Interruptive

• Impolite

• Empathetic

• Rushed

See page 25 to check your answer.


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As you may know from your own experience, it is important that you demonstrate these good characteristics should you have to take complaint details, regardless of who is complaining – whether it’s a member of the public, another worker, or a visitor to site.

Below is a link to a short video from Track Safety Alliance that focuses on the effects of statutory nuisances (such as Noise and Dust) to our lineside neighbours and how we should be managing these to ensure that disturbance is kept to a minimum.

Just like all individuals we have a responsibility to be a Caring Neighbour and this film will give you the awareness of what this means when working for Network Rail.

Visit the link below to watch the video:https://www.tracksafetyalliance.co.uk/videos/tsa-caring-neighbours/s7100/

https://www.tracksafetyalliance.co.uk/videos/tsa-caring-neighbours/s7100/

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Having open body language, just like when you deliver the safety brief, will give a good impression to the person making the complaint and may help to calm them down if they are angry.

Remember that good behaviours and attitudes are infectious, so if you speak calmly and offer some empathy that should appease the complainant and they are likely to mirror your behaviour.

Once you have taken the complaint details, proceed with the appropriate escalation method. This may mean raising it with the Site Manager, the Health and Safety Manager, or your employer.

Alternatively, if you are unable to contact site management or the situation worsens, you can call the Network Rail Emergency 24 Hour Helpline on 03457 11 41 41 or British Transport Police on 61016.


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Dealing with accidents and emergencies

No matter how many safeguards we put in place, accidents do happen, and emergencies can arise. So, like dealing with complaints, we need to be able to handle such a situation should it occur.

It is important for you to check what role the SAC has within the Emergency Evacuation Plan (EEP) so you can act accordingly; it could be your responsibility in an emergency to contact the British Transport Police, Fire or Ambulance Service, or once called you may need to meet them upon arrival and direct them to a track access point. These are just two examples of what could be required of you, so please check the EEP each time you enter a new worksite.

If you were to find yourself in an emergency and unsure of your role, the time you spend checking what you need to do could be the difference between life and death for someone else; it is therefore vitally important that you understand your role before you need it.

When dealing with an emergency, no matter who you are speaking to you need to be using Safety Critical Communication (also known as SCC). There are usually 4 steps involved in SCC. Can you put these in the correct order?

Knowledge check

See page 26 to check your answer.

A. Agree the actions to be taken

B. Confirming agreement

C. Identify the parties involved

D. Provide information about the situation

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We must all take personal responsibility for how we conduct ourselves at work, including how we communicate, and not just rely on one person to communicate well. This means we must:

Did you know that 90% of respondents to a rail industry survey by RSSB (the Rail, Safety and Standards Board) in 2016 said they feel under pressure at work at least once

per week? Pressure can come from different sources so we must take time to communicate well – no matter what the

situation.


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Good safety critical communications have a four-part structure.

• Opening Who I am and where I am.

• Information Why I am calling, to provide context.

• Actions What you will do; what the recipient will do.

• Confirmation The person with Lead Responsibility must ask for a ‘repeat back’.

You may be making an emergency call to the ECO (or signaller) and they will take Lead Responsibility. There are clearly defined examples in the RSSB Rule Book if you want to take a further look at this.

If it is not clear who has lead responsibility, or if two people carrying out the same task are communicating with each other, the person who starts the conversation must always take lead responsibility. We must all be prepared to take the lead in a communication if the other party does not, even when it is their designated responsibility to do so.

You should be familiar with the protocols we use during SCC as they are the same as general radio etiquette:

For more information and further training on Safety Critical Communications please refer to the RSSB training which can be found on Network Rail’s Safety Central or speak to your line manager.

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Let’s run a quick activity to test your knowledge of making an emergency call. Below are transcripts of an emergency call which has been broken down into sections, and there are 3 different variations per section. Read through each section and rank each variation in order from 1 to 3 (1 being perfect, 2 being OK but not perfect, 3 being imperfect).

Section 1

Emergency Service: “Hi, you’re connected to the Fire Brigade please go ahead…”

SAC: “There’s a fire on the worksite”

Emergency Service: “What’s the address?”

SAC: “It’s Gonalston Lane, between Lowdham and Thurgarton ‘NG 14... 6… Sierra Foxtrot…”

Emergency Service: “Sorry was that N for November, G for Golf? this is a worksite, not a residen-tial address…”

SAC: “Yeah sorry, November Golf... we are here for the weekend completing some maintenance work on the track”

A


SAC: “Errr… there’s a fire on the worksite”


SAC: “We’re on umm… hang on… Gonalston Lane, NG14... 6SF…”

Emergency Service: “November Golf 14… 6 was that S for Sierra F for Foxtrot?”

SAC: “Yeah, yeah…”

B


SAC: “There’s a fire on the worksite”


SAC: “It’s a temporary Network Rail worksite based on Gonalston Lane, between Lowdham and Thurgarton ‘November Golf 1... 4... 6… Sierra Foxtrot…”

Emergency Service: “So this is a worksite, not a residential address…”

SAC: “Correct, we are here for the weekend completing some maintenance work on the track”

C


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Section 2

Emergency Service: “Right I can see Gonalston Lane and 2 lakes either side…”

SAC: “That’s it we are at the north end of the road, so north of the south lake and west of the big lake…”

Emergency Service: “I see, are you north of the railway track…?”

SAC: “Yes…”

Emergency Service: “Is the fire near the railway track…?”

SAC: “Well, kind of, I would say about 75 metres away, the fire’s over in the far left corner of the worksite...”

A

Emergency Service: “Right I can see Gonalston Lane and 2 lakes either side...”



SAC: “Yes… if coming south, down Gonalston Lane you will see an a-frame board on the left say-ing ‘Site Access Point’, that’s us there…”

Emergency Service: “Ok, is the fire near the railway track…?”

SAC: “No I would say it’s at least 75 metres away and we currently have possession of the track anyway, the fire’s over in the far left corner of the worksite as you enter near the tool and plant storage area..”

B

Emergency Service: “Ok, is the fire near the railway track…?”

SAC: “No I would say it’s at least 75 metres away and we currently have possession of the track anyway, the fire’s on our personnel site…”

Emergency Service: “Right I can see Gonalston Lane and 2 lakes either side...”



SAC: “Yes… if coming south, down Gonalston Lane we’re on the left…”

Emergency Service: “Ok I’ll pass that along, you said the fire’s on the personnel site, do you have any power or any electrics there…”

C

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Section 2


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SAC: “Yes, there’s lighting as well, our generators have been shut down already and the worksite is currently being evacuated”

Section 3

Emergency Service: “Ok, how many people do you have on site…”

SAC: “23…”

Emergency Service: “33 ok…”

SAC: “No two, three… 23…”

Emergency Service: “Ahh ok 23… I’ve dispatched a crew and they should be there in the next few minutes, is it safe for you to ensure there’s a clear access route when they arrive…”

SAC: “Yes someone’s positioned so they find the site access point and the workers are being evac-uated to a safe place out of the way”

Emergency Service: “Ok thank you for all the information, the crew are on the way so please standby…”

SAC: “Ok thank you…”

A

Emergency Service: “Ok you say you’re on a worksite... how many people do you have on site…”

SAC: “Errrmm, just a second… 1, 2, 3…. 10….20…. 23…”

Emergency Service: “33 ok…”

SAC: “No two, three… 23…”

Emergency Service: “Ahh ok, 23... Right I’ve dispatched a crew and they should be there in the next few minutes… is it safe for you or someone else to ensure there’s a clear access route when they arrive…”

SAC: “Yeah there’ll be someone out there so they find the site access point…”

Emergency Service: “Are the workers being moved to a point of safety away from the fire and access point…?”

SAC: “Yes…”

Emergency Service: “Ok thank you... the crew are on their way so please standby…”

SAC: “Ok…”

B


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Emergency Service: “Ok, how many people do you have on site…”

SAC: “23, but some of them are out on the track so the alarm has been triggered and the team have been contacted by radio so they’re evacuated”

Emergency Service: “Ok, 23 workers, that’s great, I’ve dispatched a crew and they should be there in the next few minutes, is it safe for you to ensure there’s a clear access route when they arrive…”

SAC: “Yes someone’s positioned so they find the site access point and the workers are being evac-uated to a safe place out of the way”

Emergency Service: “Ok thank you for all the information, the crew are on the way so please standby…”

SAC: “Ok thank you…”

C

Did you correctly rank each variation on every section?See page 27 to check your answers.

Getting safety communications accurate, brief, clear and professional will help get Everyone Home Safe Every Day. For more information and further training on Safety Critical Communications please refer to the RSSB training which can be found on Network Rail’s Safety Central or speak to your line manager.

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Vegetation tangled in cablesThe correct answer is B A fire starts and site loses power

Missing piece of fencinghe correct answer is C Animals from the adjacent field access the site

A worker using a mobile device whilst driving in the car parkThe correct answer is B A potentially fatal injury and damage to property in the car park

Gate left openThe correct answer is A Close and secure the gate yourself

A worker not wearing a hard hatThe correct answer is C Remind the worker that they should always be wearing a hard hat whilst on site and ensure they put one on

A worker entering an exclusion zone where a vehicle is making a delivery to the SACThe correct answer is A Stop the driver, approach the pedestrian, and highlight safe walking route

Answers to activity 1


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• Considerate

• Kind

• Understanding

• Listened

• Clarified

• Attentive

• Empathetic

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Page 17

The correct answer is


Answers to knowledge check

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C. Identify the parties involvedD. Provide information about the situationA. Agree the actions to be takenB. Confirming agreement

Section 1

The correct answer is:

1. C2. A3. B



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Section 2


1. B2. C3. A

Section 3


1. C2. A3. B

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