Its been confirmed that Blackpool Transport’s Paint Shop and Fitting Shop facilities at Rigby Road Depot have been under an Improvement Notice since last December, which has impacted the workshop capacity for the heritage trams over the past few months.
The notice was issued in December 2022 with an original deadline for rectification by 30th January 2023 although this has since been extended until 31st May 2023 after a request from Blackpool Transport.
The opinion of the Office of Rail and Road Inspector was that Blackpool Transport were contravening the Health and Safety Act as they had “not carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks arising from work activities which employees are exposed to whilst they are at work”.
To comply with the notice Blackpool Transport were required to:
- Identify all substances that are in use at Rigby Road Paint Shop and Fitting Shop that are substances hazardous to heath as defined in the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
- Carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to health where identified substances hazardous to health are in use. The information provided by the manufacturer in the safety data sheet should form part of this assessment
- In determining the prevention or adequate control of substances hazardous to health, where prevention of exposure cannot be achieved as required under of regulation 7(1) of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 substitution under 7(2) shall be considered; Where substitution can not be implemented protection measurements as required under regulation 7(3) shall be adopted
- For each identified substance hazardous to health, implement the control measures as identified in the risk assessment process in 1-3 above in order to prevent or so far as is reasonably practicable control exposure
- Where the risk assessment indicates that monitoring exposure is requisite for ensuring the maintenance of adequate control of the exposure of employees to substances hazardous to health, implement a procedure to ensure that any work involving substances hazardous to health is adequately controlled and monitored and reviewed
In a statement provided to British Trams Online, Blackpool Transport Managing Director, Jane Cole, said: “We’ve been working closely with the ORR and with our Heritage Engineering team to comply with the notice issued. We have provided additional training to staff, created new safety documentation, and purchased new equipment to allow our Heritage operation to comply with 21st Century standards. The workshop has a new lease of life, and the improvement notice has allowed us to make great strides in maintaining the health and safety of our staff.”
It’s a shame the ORR haven’t got anything better to do!
So are you suggesting that ORR turn a blind eye to shortcomings in the management of health and safety at Rigby Road? Why should the Blackpool Heritage operation be treated any differently to all the other heritage tramways and railways? All heritage operations are subject to the same level of monitoring and they all are required to possess and Safety Management System which describes how the health and safety aspects of the operation are managed.
They must also be able to demonstrate that they adhere to the procedures contained in it.
Yeah, who needs health and safety when it involves hazardous substances
What? Anything better than their job to protect people and passengers in the railway and Tramway Industry? Perhaps they should just leave it until someone dies.
The ORR is literally doing its job! I.e. keeping workers safe.
Jane Cole’s statement that the improvement notice “has allowed us to make great strides in maintaining the health and safety of our staff” is quite astonishing… shouldn’t the company be doing that anyway without being prompted to do so? And as the workshops are earmarked for demolition soon, with all workshop activity on the heritage trams being carried out in the main depot once phase 1 of the refurb is complete, why bother to make them safe for use anyway? A truly baffling situation.