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Tuesday 16 Oct 2018

British Safety Council awards for IP Track

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National

Network Rail’s Infrastructure Project’s (IP) Track team has been awarded three Safety Swords of Honour by the British Safety Council (BSC).

This is the third year running IP Track have been awarded a Sword of Honour and Network Rail is one of 61 organisations worldwide to have been given the prestigious Sword of Honour from the BSC. These are awarded to companies which have demonstrated excellence in the management of health and safety risks at work.

The Safety Swords of Honour will be presented on 30 November 2018 to three of the four track delivery teams: High Output, Switches & Crossings (S&C) North and S&C South.

To compete for the Sword of Honour, IP Track had to achieve the maximum five stars in the BSC’s health and safety management audit scheme in the period August 2017 – July 2018. The team also had to demonstrate to an independent panel of experts excellence in health and safety management throughout the business, from boardroom to track-side.

The BSC audit team also validated the compliance with improved safety processes which has led to IP Track’s 70% reduction in Lost Time Injury Frequency Rates.

Steve Featherstone, programme director IP Track, said: “Whilst it is nice to receive these Swords, it is the significant reduction in injuries and improved focus on safety which I am particularly proud of.  Our next goal is a Globe of Honour for sustainability and BSC are currently undertaking a sustainability audit which will identify where we have gaps to fill.”

BSC auditors verified IP Track standards and procedures which covered best practice indicators in the following areas: leadership, stakeholder engagement, risk management, organisational health and safety culture and continuous improvement. The process took four weeks and audited all four key delivery teams. There was a marked improvement in the S&C North, S&C South and High Output teams’ scores. The Plain Line team only just missed out and achieved the slightly lower 4-star award.

Notes to editors

IP Track is formed of four national specialist delivery teams for Switches and Crossings (S&C), High Output and Plain Line. The two S&C Alliances deliver S&C renewals, enhancements and refurbishments. They also deliver some plain line work where it would not be sensible to mobilise the plain line contractor in the same vicinity. The S&C Client team acts as the interface to the S&C Alliances for all work from routes and regions and agrees the target price and remits the work to the S&C Alliances. High Output will have delivered 75% of Network Rail track renewals by the end of CP5, working across all eight routes over the next 18 months, and is now operational for third rail. Plain Line delivers renewals not allocated to High Output and S&C, and increasing amounts of enhancements work.