PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2011 :: RMTnews 25 Last month the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) claimed to be surprised to discover that up to 40 per cent of serious injuries to workers of Network Rail and its contractors in the last five years were not being reported, as required by law. The RSSB now admits that pressure and fear caused by job insecurity, a punitive attendance policy and financial disincentives such as loss of overtime led to failures to report accidents or incidents. In confidential interviews with RSSB many managers and staff expressed fear of reprisals. RSSB also found a culture of fear among Network Rail’s 65,000 contractor staff. Many strongly believe they will not be selected for work if they report an injury. These temporary or casual workers, often on ‘zero-hours’ contracts also face being stood off without pay during investigations into accidents. RSSB suggests Network Rail should promote a better safety and reporting culture. Yet, Network Rail chairman Rick Haythornthwaite claims that he took some comfort from the report's “clear conclusion that there was no link between under- reporting and executive bonuses”, a reaction reminiscent of the theatre critic who asked: “apart from that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?” The link between insecure, sub- contract work and abuse of safe work practices has been known for years. It is ten years since release of the award-winning film The Navigators, directed by Ken Loach and written by RMT Sheffield and District branch secretary Rob Dawber who died from work-contracted mesothelioma ten years ago this month. His film is about five rail workers from Yorkshire trying to survive after their BR Civil Engineering depot is bought by a private company. Yet last year Network Rail bosses decided to trigger the insolvency of railway engineering contractor, Jarvis Rail. If this had been done in order to take the work and the workers ‘in-house’ on union- negotiated terms and conditions with full protection for pensions and seniority as RMT argued, it would have given a massive boost to safety. But instead, Network Rail washed their hands of responsibility for 1,500 workers with essential engineering skills and watched them go out of the rail industry, or to work for labour- only agencies on minimum wage. Now the privatisation lunatics in the Department of Transport are dusting down plans to break up Network Rail into separate regional companies, ready to be flogged off to train operating companies. If carried out, this would return our rail network to the kind of engineering chaos and fragmentation that characterised the worst period of Tory rail privatisation under Railtrack plc. Under-capitalised train operators, dependent on credit from private banks would increasingly come to rely on sub-contractors for engineering work. Any attempt to further smash up Network Rail must be resisted by all means necessary. There is an alternative. RMT has already played the leading role in developing a framework to reinforce the legal rights and facilities afforded to trade union health and safety representatives within Network Rail. Following intensive work with Network Rail by RMT, a new health, safety and welfare procedure is being developed. For the first time there will not only a proper three-tier structure of local, area and national health and safety representation in Network Rail, but will give lead union safety representatives a right to interview, intervene and represent trade union members working for Network Rail sub-contractors. Health and safety at work is too important to be left to so-called management ‘champions’. A real safe work culture requires freedom from fear, democratic representation and independent trade unions. Alex Gordon President’s column FIGHTING FOR SAFETY AT WORK R MT has called on the Office of Rail Regulation to prosecute Network Rail for serious breaches of health and safety that led to the death of member Malcolm Slater, who died in horrific circumstances while working on an overhead railway line. An inquest at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court ruled recently that Mr Slater’s death in June 2008 was “accidental”. Mr Slater, 64, died from serious head and spine injuries sustained when he fell 15 feet to the ground after a metal basket of a hoist fell from its hydraulic arm. He endured three weeks of agony in hospital before finally succumbing to his injuries. Network Rail has previously admitted liability for the accident in civil claims arising from the accident brought by RMT and Thompsons Solicitors. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that Malcolm was a loyal and hardworking member and he had his life taken in the most miserable way as a direct result of Network Rail’s negligence. “This is an accident that should never have happened, not least because concerns about the adequacy of the weld attaching the basket to its arm had already been raised with Network Rail. “RMT wants to see Network Rail held accountable for its negligence so that our members are not put in harm’s way like this again,” he said. Henrietta Phillips from Thompsons Solicitors added that Mr Slater was required by his employers to use defective equipment, which is a breach of the law. “We’re disappointed with the outcome of the inquest but hopeful that the Office of Rail Regulation will consider taking a criminal prosecution against Network Rail,” she said. NETWORK RAIL MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT FOR WORKER’S DEATH