The Quest for Competence –

Worker competence in Britain’s

Railways, past present and

future

John Abbott

31 July 2014

My personal journey

Joined British Rail 1981

British Rail Engineering Ltd 1984 - 86

British Railways Board 1987 - 91

Trainload Freight 1991 - 93

Railtrack 1993 - 2002

Network Rail 2002 - 07

RSSB 2007 - present

UIC 2005 - present

Parliamentary Transport Safety

Commissioner

2013 – present

2

The GB Railway Structure

3

The GB Railway Structure – part 2

Passenger

19 Franchise operators 4 Open access operators 5 Charter train operators

Freight

6 freight operators

Infrastructure

2 Infrastructure managers + 2 more under construction

Supply Chain

3500 regular suppliers 3 rolling stock leasing

companies 150 main contractors

Workforce

215,000 full time equivalent workers

4

RDG

5

Some interesting facts

• GB railway (excluding Northern Ireland) is second

largest in EU

• Fastest growing railway in EU, +62% since 1998

• 1.66bn passenger journeys in 2013 – highest since

1920s (excluding 1939-45)

• Safest railway in EU

• Highest customer satisfaction rating in EU (1.3bn

described as good or satisfactory)

• Freight +88% since 2002

• Subsidy £4bn in 2013, tax paid £3.9bn in 2013

6

RSSB

We are

• Not for profit

• Member owned and funded

• Overseen by member board

• Run by the industry, for the industry

And we do this by:

Understanding

Risk Guiding

Standards

Managing research and innovation

System collaboration and improvement

7

Stockton and Darlington

8

Liverpool to Manchester Railway

9

Sir William Huskisson

10

Railway Mania

• 1840 1500 miles

• 1850 6000 miles

• 1875 14,000 miles

11

Factors

Economics

Technology

Politics

Events

Safety

12

Development of the railway workforce

Training and qualifications

• Apprenticeships

• Training

• Rules examinations

• Professional institutions

Accommodation/Conditions

• Workers housing

• New towns – railway

towns

• Concept of the railway

family

Self Improvement

• Paid holidays

• Night Classes

• First Aid movement

Grade Structure

• Promotional Structure

• Largely based on the

army

• Reward for service

13

Railway Accidents in 19th Century

Common types of railway accidents in 19th Century

Boiler Explosions

Train Collisions

Derailments

Fires Structural Failures

Rolling Stock Defects

14

Prevention of train collisions – evolution of signalling

• Time interval

• Policeman with flag

• Signals and telegraph

• Block system and bells

15

• Signal Interlocking

• Colour lights

• RETB

• ATP

• ERTMS

16

Prevention of train collisions – evolution of

signalling part 2

Early 20th Century approach to competence

• Functional

– Operations

– Traction and rolling stock

– Plant

– Electrification

– Signalling and telegraph/telecoms

– Structures

– PW

Very different models

17

Engineering v Operations

• Operations

– Rules based, start at the bottom and on the job via

supervisors (eg. train drivers)

• Engineering

- Apprenticeships

- Grade progression with qualifications

- Institutions (eg.IRSE, Locomotive Engineers, PWI)

18

The Big 4

19

British Railways in 1948

• Inherited railways with very different

approaches, culture and performance

• Huge organisations and workforce

• Mixed bag of assets

• Differences of policy opinions amongst senior

leaders

• Heavily unionised labour force

20

BR – subsequent years

• National rule book

• Functional standards

• No holistic approach to training and

competence. Instead continued functional

approach to training, development and

assessment inherited from Big 4

• No formalised approach to safety or quality

management.

21

Clapham 1988

22

Public Inquiry

23

Railway Safety Legislation 1994

• Railway Safety Case Regulations

• Railway Safety Critical Regulations

• Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail

Railway Safety Legislation 1994

Railtrack

Suppliers .

Train & Freight Operators

Railway Safety Case Cascade 1994

HSE

Railway Safety Case Cascade 1994

25

Competence Management Systems 1994

• Each company required to identify Safety

critical workers

• Structure – CMS to address

• Develop a competence regime for each type

of worker

Competence Management Systems 1994

Accidents

• 1997 – Southall

• 1999 – Ladbroke Grove

Accidents

What did we learn?

• Abandonment of recruitment

• Large scale Labour down sizing for efficiency

purposes

• Creation of labour markets for key workers and rapid

escalation in labour rates

• Unforeseen development of a labour agency supply

market

• Fragmented approach to competence development

• Need to accelerate the use of technology to mitigate

human error

What did we learn?

2006 Safety legislation

• Simplified Regulations – Railways and

other Guided Transport System Safety

Regs

• Reg 22 - Cooperation

• Reg 23 – Safety Critical Work

• Reg 24 – Competence and Fitness

• Reg 25 - Fatigue

• Reg 26 – Cooperation with regard to

Safety critical Workers

2006 Safety legislation

Competence management today

• Factors

• Europe

• Legislation

• One industry approach for key roles

• Supply chain control – Sentinel

• Focus on more practical “on the job”

training and assessment

Competence management today

31

Slide 32

Training design

Determination of

training package

scope

Difficulty

assessment

Importance

assessment

Frequency

assessment

DIF analysis

Training

package design

Training

packages

Job analysis

Task analysis

Risk assessment

Standard

defining

‘competent

performance’

Risk-based task

analysis Human

performance

measurement

Risk

Assessment

opportunity

Likely skill fade

Determining

appropriate

assessment

methods

Competence

assessment

Competence

assessment

records

Who is involved in a CMS?

33

Aiming for consistent performance

Time

Pe

rfo

rma

nc

e

Required performance level

Actual performance level

Assessment encounter

34

Key assessment activities

SC2 p 8-9

Training

Assessor

workload

Brief staff

Refer to database

Measure staff

against job &

behavioural

competencies

Use right

methods

Complete assessor

notebook entry

Note criteria met

Update database

Update your skills

and performance

Help improve the

system and control

risk

35

Knowledg

e

K + Skills

S E Experienc

e

+ + Attitude

A

Competence

Appropriate assessment methods

High

Low

Rela

tive

va

lue

of e

vid

en

ce

Unannounced/unobtrusive

monitoring

Observation

Simulation using real equipment

Simulation using tabletop scenarios

Qualified testimony

Products of work or reports

Open Qs or professional discussion

Multi-choice questions

Note: Knowledge only supports other

forms of evidence. It cannot be

used on its own to prove competence

General rule of application Only drop down to the method in the next lower box if the higher one is impossible or justifiably impractical

36

The Future

• Industry skills forecasting – RDG National

Rail Skills Academy

• New approach for train drivers – European

licence & 2 stage recruitment and

competence

• Smart Sentinel

• Skills Passport

• Industry Promotion – Attract new talent

• Coordinated recruitment

The Future