Employee Safety and Security Working Group

With members continually raising security concerns last year, Sydney Trains was forced to act – and it did so by establishing the Employee Safety & Security Working Group (ESSWG).

Representatives from the RTBU, WHS (Drivers and Guards), Sydney Trains Management, SEQR and similar representation from NSW Trains make up the group which first kicked off in September 2014.

The ESSWG has worked with Sydney Trains Security and NSW Transport Police to develop a report which will mean crew will start to see actions against reported incidents. The ESSWG has also developed a Q&A document answering some of the more frequently asked questions, which will be circulated over the coming weeks.

The ESSWG will also continue to work on improving the current reporting processes and reviewing the needs of Train Crew.

One of the group’s first tasks was to look at the way it could support crew in the day to day issues that could involve their personal safety. It was agreed by the committee that it would to develop a training package that provided crew with some tools to assist them when confronted with situations that potentially threaten their personal safety. This involved the working group looking at similar training modules from NSW Ambulance, Sydney Buses, Sydney Ferries and Queensland Rail.

After reviewing the training material a training module was developed and implemented on Monday the 9th of April in conjunction with an important presentation on changes to the Critical Incident Support model.

For the second half of this day, management also implemented a session on “crew engagement” following last year’s somewhat negative Pulse survey results in order to “better understand” the issues raised by crew about management.

The initial training sessions were not well received and management made a decision to cut certain elements of the “My Personal Safety” training and use the now surplus time to further engage crew with more “GM Safety Sessions” relating to SPADs.

In consideration of these issues the ESSWG met and decided that the “My Personal Safety” training requires further work and time to adequately cover the needs of train crew. As a result the module will not be a part of the training day at Petersham. Over the next few months the ESSWG will re-visit the requirements of train crew and work towards a revised training module.

Over the coming weeks train crew will still be rostered to attend Petersham to undertake training. The day will now consist of a Safety Session delivered by Stuart Middleton (G.M Train Crew) followed by the Changes to Critical Incident Support and finishing with the Crew Engagement (Pulse survey) for which members are encouraged to fully voice their concerns with the current management approach to train crew.