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The General Secretary of TSSA, Gerry Doherty, has written to inform the RMT of impending strike action by TSSA members in the BTP First Contact Centre and Force Control Rooms scheduled for 18th and 19th April 2009. Needless to say RMT members will do all that we can, within the law, to support our brothers and sisters at TSSA.

He advises that the strike will have a significant impact on policing for the railway which will have obvious implications on safety for the travelling public and staff alike. Furthermore, he warns that the BTP intend to use Police Officers to cover the control function but that they have only a minimum of training and no Control Room experience.

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSW), Regulation 8(1) employers have a duty to establish procedures to be followed in the event of serious and imminent danger to persons at work such procedures are sometimes known as Worksafe Procedures.

Should you, as an individual, feel that as part of your duties you are placing yourself in serious or imminent danger during the dispute by the BTP Control Room Call Handlers you should comply with your company’s policy as required by the MHSW.

Moreover, you should not take any duties that you are not trained to carry out, especially if doing so could compromise your absolute safety

Bob Crow
RMT General Secretary

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URGENT: Please bring to the immediate attention of all staff

Thursday 16 April 2009

Dear Brothers and sisters,

We have been informed that key civilian support staff to the British Transport Police are planning to strike for 48hrs from 0700hrs this weekend (commencing Saturday 18 April 2009).

The support staff are responsible for the movement and dispatch of British Transport Police. They are members of the TSSA.

Clearly, this could have a serious impact on your safety and that of the travelling public. RMT have written to LUL’s Director of Safety seeking urgent information regarding the Company’s safety arrangements in the event the strike goes ahead. We would also like to see the risk assessments carried out at all work locations and the controls put in place to cater for degraded police operations.

A degraded police operation will have an immediate impact on any incident from staff assaults, one-unders, derailments, over-crowding because of sporting events etc. Response times can be the difference between life and death and we expect to see a serious assessment of how the strike will affect frontline staff.

The Safety Council will keep you abreast of developments and will further inform and advise you of your rights under key health and safety legislation if the strike goes ahead and if you believe you may be in immediate and imminent danger as a consequence.

Unjum Mirza
Secretary
Stations and Revenue Safety Council

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