Safety measures

Every job must be planned

All work carried out in a dangerous area on the tracks must be carefully planned in advance. The planning steps should be related to the work to be carried out and the associated safety measures. Under time pressure, the necessary safety measures are often insufficiently recognized and, therefore, remain unplanned. Before the start of the work in these cases it must be established that special events, such as difficult conditions, were not taken into account. For example, due to lower visibility on the approach route, the number of planned lookout staff may be insufficient. This problem delays the start of work, because further operational measures must be carried out to avert imminent danger.

Adaptation of the security arrangements while working

The protection of the work site does not just depend on local and operational conditions, but also external factors that could not be predicted but can suddenly occur. Thus, for example, a deterioration in visibility due to the appearance of fog may cause a change in the safety arrangements. For example, it may be necessary to provide additional lookout men or take other operational measures. The individual steps in the pre-planned workflow may be changed, which may also lead to a new work schedule, for example, involving the use of new machines and devices or increased environmental noise. Even in the short-term changes to the workflow plan, safety measures must not be neglected. The safety supervision needs to adapt all the safety measures to the current conditions. This requires immediate action and a high level of responsibility. Work may only be started when the necessary safety precautions have been taken.

The way to and from the worksite

The planning of the safety measures must also take into account the way to and from the work site. As a rule, a common meeting place is agreed on from which the gang sets off to their worksite. This is where the first decisions need to be made in a work site briefing, e.g. if a lookout person is required or not. If several specialised services or companies are responsible for a work site, each supervisor must be responsible for ensuring that the group assigned to him meets at the assembly point so that they can go to the work site together.