ECROS TAKE ACTION OVER SAFETY

RMTnews :: march 2008 :: www.rmt.org.uk 12 Safety critical operators in Network Rail’s electrical control room at York began strike action for five days from March 19 over “unacceptable” plan to cut the number of operators from 18 to 12. RMT had told the company that pushing through drastic staff cuts in the face of serious unresolved health and safety issues and refusing to honour existing agreements on dealing with displaced staff are unacceptable. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the unanimous vote by the highly skilled staff should have told Network Rail everything they need to know about their proposals. “We have already told the company that pushing through these drastic cuts when there are serious unresolved safety issues is unacceptable. “We are talking about the safe handling of a 25,000-volt power supply here, and we told Network Rail we were not prepared to allow safety to be compromised for the convenience of the company’s balance sheet,” he said. RMT requests that the proposals be put on hold pending proper discussions have fallen on deaf ears and Network Rail has refused to apply the agreed procedure for dealing with displaced staff. SAFETY AT RISK Serious concerns about the safety aspects of the introduction of the CROMOS 2000 SCADA systems into electrical control rooms have been raised by RMT with Network Rail's director of safety and compliance, Julian Lindfield. A major complaint is that proposals have not been properly discussed with the skilled ECROs who will have to operate the new generation of CROMOS supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, despite promises of adequate consultation. RMT had asked for an urgent response to concerns that the system is being used as a Trojan horse for further staff cuts when the complexity of the system in fact generates more work. One of the biggest worries is that plans already started for re- equipping Romford ECR envisage doing away with the existing ‘mimic’ live system- overview board which the operators believe is essential for its safe operation. Romford is also to have a newly-developed Network Management System (NMS) and ECROs will be expected to run it at full speed on day one – underlining concerns at the lack of valid risk and workload assessments. All the evidence suggests that a powerful new management system will increase rather than decrease workload. Coupled with the attempt being made to reduce the number of ECROs at York, the fear is that the cost-saving potential of the new systems is being exaggerated and placed ahead of safety. WHAT ARE ERCOS? Responsible for ensuring a seamless 25,000-volt power supply for the network, electrical control rooms have a critical safety role to play. When part of British Rail, the ECRs were part of a single, coherent structure everyone could understand, with clear lines of reporting and demarcation. Privatisation and the fragmentation that came with it changed that, and, despite their safety critical importance, the ECRs have become something of a Cinderella. Among the operators there is a growing unrest across the country, coupled with a worrying sense that they are increasingly managed by managers ‘passing through’, with little understanding of what they do, and as a result frequently making unreasonable demands of an increasingly stretched workforce. ECROS TAKE ACTION OVER SAFETY Electrical Control Room Operators (ERCOs) at York launch five days of strike action over Easter against job cuts and safety fears