Safety Award Shortlisted 
Connected Places Catapult

Workers who carry out essential tasks to maintain and renew our railways face several safety risks, including moving trains and exposure to high-voltage electricity. A leading cause of many trackside incidents is reduced situational awareness, whereby workers - due to fatigue, time pressures or hindered visibility - can lose awareness of their surroundings and unintentionally step into a hazardous area. To address this issue, Network Rail’s Safety Task Force is rolling out geofencing technology to provide additional protection measures for trackside workers. Geofences are virtual geographic boundaries, defined by digital coordinates. They can be created in any shape or location and there is no limit to how big a Geofence can be. Certain devices can be assigned to a Geofence, for example, a mobile phone, vehicle trackers, or a safety wearable. When programmed, the assigned devices give out a specific alert or push notification to workers if they enter or exit a Geofence. By attaching such devices to track workers, alerts can notify them the moment they step out of the Geofence (the safe zone) and into a potentially unsafe position, allowing them to step back into safety. The project has been led by Network Rail and Connected Places Catapult.

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Network Rail (Partnered Connected Places Catapult)

Geofencing is the use of a virtual ‘zone’ alongside a set of criteria, attributes and rules that the zone contains. In addition to the zone configuration, people, vehicles, or items of equipment have their location monitored by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) technology, the most common form of which is GPS. Geofencing provides a real-time monitoring system for the location devices that can identify if users accidentally move into unsafe zones on a work site, and alert users, operators and supervisors when this occurs. The technology is deployed in addition to existing safety measures, so the system will provide an overlay to existing control measures deployed for a Safe System of Work i.e., providing secondary protection. The technology provides an additional ‘tap on the shoulder’ to a track worker if they lose situational awareness.

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Network Rail - Step up to electrical safety (Partnered with Amey, SPL Powerlines and ISS labour)

Electrical Safety Step Up – Sparking a culture change. Over the past five years, there have been three major electrical safety accidents on the railway that have caused life changing injuries. To prevent these accidents from happening, something needs to change. New standards, technology and processes can only work effectively when we also change our attitude and approach. From this premise, the Electrical Safety Culture strategy was created and the Electrical Safety Step Up campaign was born. Launched in January 2023, the Electrical Safety Step Up has lit up the traction power industry. Sessions have been held as far afield as California and Canada. Over 5000 have attended so far, receiving on average 4.7 out of 5 for engagement. Promoted in magazines, over 70,000 downloads of the videos on LinkedIn and facilitators trained across the supply chain, this campaign has truly caught the imagination for all those supporting and working on or around high voltage equipment

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One Big Circle

Working in collaboration with Network Rail, technology SME One Big Circle has developed their award-winning AIVR (Automated Intelligent Video Review) technology to capture extremely high-resolution imagery of the railhead to assist railhead contamination monitoring. This ground-breaking system is being used by Network Rail as part of their seasonal planning and low adhesion monitoring schemes to minimise the extreme safety risks associated with railhead contamination. The AIVR online platform facilitates a virtual review of this remarkably high-resolution imagery - with full locational metadata – to enable a virtual survey.. After a successful trial of this system, Network Rail and OBC are delivering a wider rollout of the AIVR Focus system across their Multi-purpose Vehicles (MPV), enhancing safer track conditions by providing rapidly accessible data directly from the railhead.

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Tended

Every year, trackside workers are involved in accidents and near-misses, a leading cause of which is human error leading to a loss of situational awareness. Tended has developed a wearable solution to transform trackside safety and help end preventable accidents and fatalities on the railway. It’s designed to augment situational awareness by providing a ‘tap on the shoulder’ to immediately alert workers to act should they stray into hazardous areas, such as an open line. Combining geospatial technology with behavioural science, Tended is revolutionising the safety of trackside workers. Every incident that happens on our railways is devastating for the families of those involved and is a stark reminder of how a small mistake could be the difference between life and death. Using centimetre-precise positioning technology, we can help to eliminate the human error that leads to accidents, bringing essential change and ensuring that workers can return home to their families after every shift.

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Tratos

Tratos founded in 1966, is a leading British-Italian manufacturer of electrical and optical fibre cables with their UK base in Knowsley, Merseyside, aiming to work closely with customers to find better, safer and environmentally friendly solutions to their challenges. A supplier to the Network Rail framework contract and trusted worldwide for rail, underground, power distribution, signalling and electrical cables for most applications. Working with the ICAS (Innovative and Consulting on Applied Superconductivity) consortium, Tratos is highly regarded for manufacturing the superconducting cable at CERN for the large Hadron Collider project.

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XRAIL

Awarded long-term, high-profile maintenance contracts in Saudi Arabia and Spain - two very different international territories, Xrail Group (Xrail) recruited, retrained and upskilled local resources. Quickly realising the health and safety culture and behaviours were not up to the standard they expect, Xrail utilised existing UK knowledge and expertise to develop and deliver a rigorous training programme. This challenge was further exacerbated due to the need for quick mobilisation and ensuring the safety of its employees whilst working in a live operational environment. Xrail have also introduced health and safety-related reporting, including inspection reports, location visits, risk assessments, and working and training hours. Applying a 'do, report, review' process, trends are identified, tracked and analysed with appropriate actions taken as required, such as providing additional training or updating equipment. Xrail's commitment to workforce health and safety, the effectiveness of its training programmes and initiatives have been recognised as exemplary and best practice. Xrail’s workforce have received client Certificates of Recognition for 'showing strong commitment towards the implementation of safety processes and maintaining safety’. Xrail were also awarded a Workplace Conditions Assessment certification in Saudi Arabia following an independent audit assessing all human factors of employing labour and delivering works, including health and safety. By developing a comprehensive health and safety training programme, introducing regular reporting, tracking trends and incorporating local culture, Xrail have created the cultural shift required to enhance safety standards and behaviours. The proactive approach and significant investment demonstrates Xrail’s priority in putting the safety of its people first.

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