Manager Safety Training for First Great Western
In recent years railway safety has been under intense public scrutiny. Increasing legislation continues to be introduced with the intention of raising the standards of overall safety in line with guidance from the Health and Safety Executive. First Great Western (FGW) is fully committed to this and views the safety of its customers and colleagues as a key priority.
As a direct consequence, during 2009 FGW placed additional focus on the management of safety issues and asked TFA for their help.
What they were looking for was an alternative approach to a perceived ‘dry’ subject; something which reflected the working environment and preferred learning styles of different management roles within the organisation.
The programme was to be rolled-out to the Manager population – circa 160 Managers, including the roles of Station Manager, Duty Manager, Onboard Service Manager, Production Manager and Engineering Manager.
Measuring Success:
The key measure of success was very clear – to reduce the number of injuries to customers and colleagues.
Underpinning this requirement, the following measures were also agreed:
- To increase the number of Injury Prevention Conversations
- To improve Health and Safety Audit results
The TFA approach:
Turning FGW’s previous format for H&S training on its head, TFA avoided a PowerPoint driven presentation and designed a practical, two-day training programme, using real life environments within the station areas covering:
- Risk Assessment.
- Planned General Inspections.
- Accident Investigation Skills.
Using the ‘Influence and Attitude’ model, the training was delivered with the emphasis on Managers owning and implementing correct FGW Safety Procedures rather than focusing on the legislation itself.
As the practical activities took place in and around station locations, the findings were fed back to the appropriate Station Managers resulting in an immediate impact on safety improvements.
Line Managers’ were provided with simple guidelines to help pre-brief and de-brief the participants on the course, which really helped to endorse and embed the training.
Ongoing success:
As a direct result of the success of the Programme, TFA have subsequently been asked to revise the material to form part of a new Manager’s Induction Programme, scheduled to run four times every year.
