Today’s meeting of state transport ministers rejected the National Transport Commission’s proposal to remove the standard in NSW and have opted instead to review it after three years.

This is a big win for RTBU members who fought hard to maintain NSW’s current high safety standards during the process of developing the National Rail Safety Regulator.

The NTC’s proposal to remove 12 hour shift limits for NSW train drivers was always ridiculous and only had one possible outcome, increased fatigue risk for train drivers.

RTBU National Secretary, Bob Nanva who attended the meeting said, “While we’re happy that today’s meeting has decided to retain the standard in NSW, it should have been expanded to other states and territories.

“We will certainly be pushing to expand this standard when the review happens in three years time. Just as you wouldn’t drive a car for more than 12 hours, nor should you drive a train.

The meeting also considered workplace drug and alcohol testing, opting to leave testing methods in the hands of operators.

This is a terrible decision for the industry and will unfairly subject train drivers to urine tests, rather than the more accurate oral swab tests that have been introduced in many workplaces across the country.

To opt for an inferior drug and alcohol testing regime, which does nothing for workplace safety makes no sense, whilst also impinging on the civil liberties of public transport workers.

We have had a great win for rail safety in NSW today but there is still work to do and your union will continue advocating strongly on your behalf for a fair and safe workplace.

Despite incredible advances in medical knowledge over the past century, our need to sleep largely remains a mystery. What we do know for certain, however, is that without it people die.

A complete absence of sleep will eventually kill you directly. A partial absence of sleep will lead to fatigue, which will create heightened safety risks and may kill you indirectly.

If you are operating a private vehicle, you run the risk of killing others as well. If you are operating public transport like a bus or plane or a train, then fatigue can claim many, many lives.

Managing the fatigue of the men and women who drive our trains, therefore, is hugely important.

New South Wales unfortunately received a huge wake-up call with the Waterfall disaster of 2003, in which a train derailed, killing seven on board, including the driver.

The subsequent McInerney Inquiry into the accident recommended that stricter controls around fatigue be developed. As a result, the NSW Parliament legislated to introduce maximum shift lengths of 12 hours for freight train drivers and nine hours for passenger train drivers.

At the time, people were rightly surprised that these caps were not already in place.

Although our understanding of fatigue is still littered with mystery and inconsistencies, most have little trouble grasping that you do no want train drivers to be working longer than nine hours for passengers and 12 hours for freight.

So the measure was introduced to a sigh of relief from the public, who wished to ensure that such an avoidable tragedy was not repeated.

This is why I am certain that most would be shocked to learn that moves are currently underway to scrap these maximum shift limits.

The National Transport Commission has recently released a report with recommendations for the harmonisation of rail safety laws across Australia.

Now, national harmonisation is a fine and worthy goal for a country the size of ours. It is unnecessary to have different standards applying in different states. Yet everyone who read and understood the findings of the McInerney Inquiry has been stunned by what the NTC has recommended.

It has advised that Australia’s first National Rail Safety Regulator should bring the entire country down to the lowest current state standards and scrap maximum shift limits for train drivers and other rail workers across the nation.

Instead of allowing other states to learn from New South Wales’s tragedy, New South Wales has instead been told to forget its lesson.

The move to scrap shift limits is an incredibly audacious one. After all, the US Federal Railroad administration, the European Union, Transport Canada, and countless other authorities across the globe regulate work hour limits in the name of safety.

So you would think that in making such a left-field call, the NTC would have some pretty rigorous evidence to back it.

Yet this is perhaps the most galling and baffling thing about the recommendation: the NTC does not even attempt to justify its position on a scientific basis.

It simply claims, without reference, that there is “little evidence to support differing fatigue related safety outcomes” if maximum work hours are placed in legislation, dusts its hands, and walks away.

That there is little evidence to support the safety benefits of maximum shift lengths would come as news to just about every fatigue expert on the planet.

To take just one example, a recent report compiled jointly by fatigue experts from Monash and Sydney Universities found that:

hours of service limits should be a central part of fatigue risk management within the rail industry, with additional fatigue risk management strategies incorporated within these limits.

The report goes on to explicitly point out that:

Recent studies capturing accident data spanning ample years/personnel/accident reports reveal unequivocal increases in accident risk with increased shift duration.

It seems a shame that the NTC would fail to check with these fatigue experts before making its incredible claim.

Of course, the commission points out that efficiencies can be achieved by allowing operators to regulate themselves when it comes to shift limits.

I am sure the NTC is right on this one. If you allow a train driver to work for more than 12 hours straight, the operation will inevitably become slightly cheaper – until there is an accident, that is.

What governments across Australia have to decide is whether they are willing to spin the wheel on safety to achieve these minor efficiencies for operators.

The Australia’s Transport Ministers is meeting on Thursday at the newly-formed Standing Council on Transport and Infrastructure (SCOTI) to assess the recommendations. They have the power to ensure that the NTC’s mistake remains an academic one.

First published on the The Drum ABC

You can comment on the original article here to show your support for maintaining NSW safety standards.

RTBU NSW Locomotive Divisional Secretary, Robert Hayden said the union was pleased to see the NSW government reaffirm its commitment to existing NSW standards, but it was not yet clear whether maximum shift lengths would be protected and Ms Berejiklian’s support must include a firm commitment to maintain current prescribed hours of work and rest for drivers.

“The Minister’s announcement is a positive sign that the state government continues to understand the importance of maintaining existing protections for rail workers. It is a credit to NSW train drivers who have fought hard to ensure NSW’s strong rail safety laws are maintained.

“However, we are still waiting for confirmation that new national laws will not see maximum shift lengths scrapped in line with less stringent regulations in other states. The maximum shift lengths in NSW came directly out of recommendations made by the inquiries into the Glenbrook and Waterfall train disasters and drivers are very concerned about any new laws that would see safety in NSW go backwards.”

Mr Hayden said these matters would be the subject of discussion at a meeting in South Australia with state and federal transport ministers, which will decide the final design of the new laws.

“We welcome a consistent, national approach to safety in Australia but a nationwide shift in protocol should be pitched at the highest possible safety standard. Drivers would be horrified to see the excellent standards that NSW has set for rail safety watered down.

“We urge the Minister to ensure her commitment to NSW’s fatigue management requirements includes maintaining current prescribed hours of work and rest for drivers.

“These are crucial regulations that keep our drivers and passengers safe.”

Read the Transport Minister’s media release and the RTBU’s response.

Welcomed by the ACTU Congress, Lives on Hold: Unlocking the Potential of Australia’s Workforce, examines the detrimental effects of an increased number of casual, labour hire and contracting jobs is having on Australian workers.

The report describes a growing divide between those workers in secure work and the 40 per cent of workers who have little or no job security.

Affecting all aspects of worker’s lives, insecure employment makes it difficult to plan ahead, get a mortgage or negotiate fair pay and conditions.

Many people juggle multiple jobs but don’t know from week to week what hours they’ll work.

Unions are determined to campaign nationally for improved regulation of the labour market in order to provide all workers with a universal set of protections and entitlements.

Of particular concern is the lack of protection for casual workers, and workers employed indirectly through labour hire and agencies which use sham contracting to reduce pay and conditions of employees.

The inquiry sets out a clear road map of measures to address the problem of insecure work, including government regulation, reform of the welfare system and improving the bargaining system so workers can pursue their rights.

Read the full report: Lives on Hold – Unlocking the potential of Australia’s workforce

The proposed changes to Workers Compensation by the O’Farrell Government will strike a heavy blow to injured workers. People who have an accident at work will lose pay while recovering and if they don’t recover within a specified time frame, weekly payments will be cut off and there will be no more help with medical bills.

The changes will also mean that workers will no longer be covered while travelling to and from work.

The ACTU is planning a massive rally outside Parliament House to protest against these harsh and unproductive changes which do nothing to help workers get back on the job safely as soon as they can.

 The protest rally will be held at 12.30pm on Wednesday June 13
outside Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney.

The RTBU needs your help to send a message to politicians that Workers Compensation is too important to the health of workers and for the economy to be undermined by cost-cutting.

Get started by sending a message to your local Member of Parliament, signing the petition, and subscribing to breaking news.

For more information got to http://www.nswforall.org.au/

The NSW Government announced they would be offering 750 voluntary redundancies in RailCorp middle management, splitting RailCorp into two entities Sydney Rail and NSW Rail, and introducing a new management regime for our cleaners.

The RTBU met with the Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, and the Director General of Transport for NSW, Les Wielinga, this morning to get an after the fact briefing on the proposed changes.

All RailCorp staff are covered by the Enterprise Agreement negotiated by your union in 2010 and any positions to go will be offered under voluntary redundancy arrangements.

At this stage we have not been given any more detail about exactly which positions are being targeted but the RTBU will be working hard to ensure all members rights and entitlements are protected as this become clearer.

The first we knew of these changes was, like you, waking up to see it in the media this morning. We have told the Minister directly that this is not an acceptable way to treat dedicated transport workers.

The Minister has now given an undertaking that she will engage in robust consultation with the union as the job cuts and changes are rolled out over the next 18 months.

Another meeting is scheduled with RailCorp next Tuesday and we will update you as soon as more detail comes to hand.

Today’s announcement comes on the back of the shedding of 600 transit officer jobs. There is a real possibility that this is just the start of rolling job cuts across the network.

Your union will be working hard to protect you every step of the way in what will be a long hard fight. Our power is in our numbers and our unity and we will stay united and strong in the face of these attacks.

We are strongest when we all work together so we need your help. You can do your bit by:

• - Making sure all your workmates are RTBU members. Membership forms can be downloaded easily from the RTBU website or you contact the office on 9264 2511 to get advice and support from an official;
• - Keeping your details up to date with the RTBU;
• - Keeping in contact with your workplace delegate;
• - Working with us to defend our job security and the rights of our members.

You can contact us at: nswloco@rtbu-nsw.asn.au

Members are reminded that this proposal formed one portion of RailCorp’s reform proposals for Maintenance Center working.

The amalgamation of individual Shed and Wash diagrams into just Shed/Wash diagrams will now occur within the new diagrams for the June timetable changes.This will have no effect on the numbers of Shed/Wash diagrams currently applied to rosters.

The proposal to change Exchange Car working to incorporate some “in service running” will also occur within the new June diagrams.

Members are again reminded to apply their Award provisions for crib breaks, hours of work limitations etc. when working these diagrams.

It should be noted that RailCorp intend to continue to push for drivers who are “off roster” for safeworking incidents (i.e. SPAD’s) to undertake Shed and Wash jobs within Maintenance Centers. Further meetings will be held in regards to this proposal.

These “S” Sets will be kept at an “operational ready” state by rotating back to Flemington Car sheds on a regular basis to undergo maintenance cycles.

Once delivery of the Waratah train escalates, this facility will also be utilised as an overflow storage location for Waratahs prior to entering revenue service.

Considerable work has been undertaken at this location to bring it up to an acceptable standard with little work remaining to be done prior to commissioning and then utilisation.

While welcoming the Moorebank announcement the RTBU has called on the state government to increase the capacity for rail freight transport into and out of Sydney by developing more dedicated freight lines and hubs that do not have to share with passenger services.

It’s also crucial that proper planning enures that any new infrastructure developments are well integrated into the existing network to gain maximum efficiency.

“The commitment to improving freight handling has been desperately needed for a long time and the union has been consistently agitating the government,” says Robert Hayden, NSW Loco Division Secretary. “The construction of the new Southern Freight Line and the Northern Freight Corridor is a good start. Ideally, there would be a series of hubs dotted across the network – one for each line.”

In addition to Moorebank, the union says the proposed freight hub at Enfield, with a shuttle service to Port Botany and links to the entire NSW network, is also necessary.

Have your say: What do you think are the priorities for freight infrastructure?

The shift limits were a crucial recommendation of the McInerny Inquiry into the Waterfall Train disaster.

An analysis of accident risk factors related to rail fatigue by researchers from Monash University and Sydney University describes removing the shift limits as “potentially dangerous”, pointing out that:

“…there is a clear evidence for i)increased fatigue for 12 hour shifts and (ii) increased accident risk for long work shifts. Working beyond 12 h is a known risk factor to fatigue/sleepiness and accident risk.”

The report also points out that the US Federal RailRoad, European Union, Transport Canada and the UK’s Office of Rail Regulation have all imposed work hour limits.

RTBU National Secretary, Bob Nanva has called strong for the NTC to abandon its ill conceived recommendation and prioritise rail safety – both for drivers and the traveling public.

You can watch an interview with Bob Nanva arguing strongly against these proposals here.

New national rail safety laws should be an opportunity to introduce the best possible safety standards but all the NTC seems to want to do engage in a race to the bottom. These proposals make a mockery of the whole concept of a safety regulator.