SAFETY BULLETIN – NRB23-02 – TRACKWORKER NEAR MISS
OVERVIEW
On the 14 February 2023 at Teignmouth Boat Yard, near Dawlish, at approximately 01.18am a Controller of Site Safety (COSS) went to place worksite marker boards after being asked to assist the Engineering Supervisor (ES) in taking a worksite.
Believing they had been told to place the marker boards, the COSS accessed the track and walked to the required position and placed the marker board on the Down line, whilst placing the marker board they heard a train coming and moved quickly onto the open Up line as the train hit the marker board.
Permission to place the marker boards had not been given by the ES and both lines were still open to traffic The forward facing CCTV footage from the train shows the COSS moving clear from the down line 4 foot into the open up line with less than 3 seconds to spare before the train hit the markerboard.
The train came to a stand with the driver and driver trainer believing they had struck the operative.
RAIB attended site and will be producing a safety digest in the near future.
DISCUSSION POINTS
- How you make sure plans and resources are adequate to undertake the task?
- How do you assess the impact of changes to the possession / worksite plan and availability of resources and you assure yourself those changes are correctly communicated and understood?
- What can you do to make others feel able to challenge any communication if something is not clear or accurate and how do you make sure people clearly understand the actions you want them to take?
- Are you using communication protocols such as, repeating back critical information, using the phonetic alphabet, confirming next actions, locations, lines, mileages and times? What can you do to make others feel able to challenge any communication if something is not clear or accurate? How do you make sure people clearly understand the actions you want them to take?
