Welcome to an uplifting and people-packed edition of RailStaff, bursting with feel-good stories from across the industry. In this issue we’ve lined up an inspirational array of features covering all manner of topics from new businesses making waves in rail, to organisations lending a helping hand to those making a new start.
To begin, I sit down with Andy Ridout and James Bowry, two accomplished individuals who both recognised a gap in the market for a management consultancy with a difference. Advance TRS Management Consultants not only understands the industry inside out but also gets stuck in to deliver real results and has provided solutions for the nation’s best-known rail projects.
Following this, Mandy Geal of Learning Partners and Gareth Roberts of UKRL discuss their partnership to embed professional skills and effective people processes across UKRL’s team of technically talented staff. Having worked with Learning Partners during his tenures at numerous rail firms, Gareth trusted Learning Partners to deliver a programme of leadership development and team effectiveness, with positive results.
This edition features a focus on health, safety & wellbeing, kicked off by an interview with David Horne, managing director of LNER and director at the Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB). He tells us about his career in rail and his role as a leading figure in the improvement of health & safety within the industry. He also discusses his key safety concerns and the programmes in place to tackle them.
We then hear from CIRAS, rail’s confidential safety hotline which shares its insights into the health and wellbeing concerns currently plaguing the industry. CIRAS explains how issues including mould and damp, pests, workload pressure, and other welfare issues are prevalent across the network and how raising your concerns can help.
Regular contributor Daisy Chapman Chamberlain examines the role of design and architecture in elevating passenger and staff wellbeing, as well as its impact on the wider community. And winding up the focus safety expert Colin Wheeler, discusses the latest safety reports from RAIB and asking whether greater accountability on the part of individuals may reduce the number of accidents and incidents the network sees each year.
In February we covered the launch of the Rebuilding Futures Alliance, a new national association established to enable people with minor convictions secure employment within Britain’s transport sector. Since then, the initiative has gone from strength-to-strength and has received the backing of some high-profile individuals. We find out more.
We also talk to Network Rail’s Charlotte and Garry Greenwood who discuss their programme to encourage ex-service members find rewarding new careers in rail. The husband-and-wife duo also elaborate on their own experience of transitioning from an army career and juggling their work with a role as a reservist.
Rounding off the issue, we speak of our pride of having supported this year’s fantastic Young Professional Awards in Cardiff and, as ever, we look forward to the wonderful RailStaff Awards which take place this year on 27 November.
Make your nominations now!
Image credit: iStockphoto.com/LoveTheWind
