Issue 79 / September 2018

Occupational ill health

which may sound posi- on Buckingham Palace road.
tive until you consider These changes have not been
that these nurses will
consulted on with your repre-
replace qualified
sentatives and we believe have
Doctors in decision been made purely on the basis
making, including
of saving money. LU will argue
having a much wider
that these changes have been
scope in deciding
properly thought through and
staff ‘Fitness for Du- are a robust modern way to deal
ty’ than they current-
with Occupational Health, frank-
ly have.
ly they’re not kidding anyone.
Another area of
The RMT THSC will look to
concern is the level
challenge the damaging chang-
of trauma counsel- es to these essential services
ling that LU will
and make the case that LU are
provide to staff.
In the latest round of Fit for being short sighted and that
LU have decided
Nothing or Transformation as failing to support staff will create
that only those who they deem its own problems.
LU prefer to call it Occupa- to have been subject to a trau-
tional Health have become
matic event whilst at work will
another victim of the abacus
and axe.
be able to access LUOH coun- Slept well?
selling services whereas col-
Your THSC had become con- leagues that may require these TfL has a ‘sleep tool’ which
cerned about rumoured chang- services for trauma caused out- asks a number of questions
es being proposed within LUOH side of work will be left to their regarding your sleep patterns
and as such we asked to meet own devices. and diet and assesses you
with them to better understand The removal of this support for general health and fatigue
the impact of Transformation on members of staff having difficul- levels. The data collected is
LUOH and those who require its totally confidential.
ties is a disgrace and displays
services.
the fiscal ineptitude of LU as
Needless to say whenever an this will in all probability lead to Can we ask, that if you do have
area has been through Transfor- staff spending more time away the time, you take the 10
mation it’s never the case that from work. minutes required to register and
resources, staffing and services complete the survey?
For those requiring physiothera-
have been enhanced and true
py best to get in quick, as these This will help the RMT members
to form LU weren’t going to services whilst still being availa-
buck the trend in this instance. on the Fatigue Working Group
ble will be reduced and eligibility to build a picture of the prob-
The headlines from this Trans- to attend will become more se- lems we face relating to fatigue.
formation are that Doctor num- lective.
bers have been reduced from The website address is:
In addition to the reduced ser-
12 to 4, however Occupational tfl.thirdpillarofhealth.com
vices LUOH will be moving from
Health Advisor (nurses) num- its current location to premises
bers have been increased, Thanks for your help.

- Read more at www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/trains -

RAIB recommend LU improvements
spring water in the comfort of
their air conditioned office, driv-
ers were left scrambling to find
clean, cold drinking water. In
many cases LU insisted that we
should make do with warm, un-
tested tap water.
The Safety Council have contin-
ued to push this issue and in
some cases we’ve had water
The Rail Accident Investiga- offered to the T/Op, LU to sup- dispensers reinstalled. Using
tion Branch (RAIB) has re- port T/Op’s who operate in ATO
the law, more specifically, the
cently published its report to maintain attention and aware-
Welfare at Work Regs (Section
into a passenger dragging ness and LU to review its CMS 22), the Safety Council have
incident at Notting Hill Gate programme to ensure consisten-
forced LU into a further review
on the Central line in Janu- cy in training techniques for
of what management actually
ary this year. viewing in cab cctv images provide us. The legislation
and awareness of door
Fortunately, this incident states the water should be read-
interlock systems.
was not fatal however ily accessible and at suitable
RAIB identified a num- Unfortunately, we have locations. This clearly isn’t the
ber of issues which con- been here before with current situation.
tributed to it happening. LU and some of the con-
Reviews will be undertaken by a
These included the T/Op cerns highlighted by the dedicated manager and your
report have been raised by
not being aware of the local Health and Safety Reps.
us previously, but large-
person trapped in the Progress, slowly but surely!
door to due to the train ly ignored. The RMT
THSC welcome the
not detecting an object,
RAIB report reaffirming
the view offered by the in
these concerns and recom- Waterloo & City Line
cab cctv to the T/Op being inad-
equate, the nature of the T/Op’s mending improvements, which detrainment dispute
we will continue to pressure LU
task causing them to not con- Our Leytonstone T-Ops on
to deliver.
sciously process information, the Central line were recently
LU’s failure to properly train T/ balloted over LU’s proposal to
Op’s of particular demands as- remove detrainment staff on
sociated with train despatch, Provision of drinking the W&C line.
especially when operating in water
ATO. A resounding Ballot response
This issue has was returned defeating the dra-
RAIB have made a number of been rumbling on for conian anti trade union law
recommendations for LU to well over a year thresholds.
make improvements in order to now. LU used
reduce the chances of a similar the failed con- The ballot result highlights the
incident occurring in the future. importance of detrainment
tract with pri- staff and their role in en-
The recommendations include vate water abling a safe environ-
calling on LU to review provider Eden ment for both the pub-
measures to reduce the risks Springs as a smoke lic and T-Ops, and we
associated with trapped in door screen to cut the number of demand that current
incidents and look at improving chilled water dispensers availa- arrangements remain
detection of objects in doors, ble to drivers. While manage- in place.
improve the in cab cctv images ment supped on chilled Alpine

Functional reps H&S reps Upgrades rep

Frank Curtis - 07931 130849
Paul Shannon - 07800808297
Will Reid - 07983 958429
Gary Doyle - 07830 221 543
Dave Rayfield -
Jim McDaid - 07917131692
07719 132161
Nigel Eivers - 07961 141924