One of the things we look for when we choose people to work closely with (our Associates), is their commitment to 'give something back' as a volunteer to the community that they work in.
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This week is Volunteers Week, an annual celebration of the work that volunteers do, everywhere. Now in its 35th year, the annual campaign takes place 1-7 June every year and sees charities and voluntary groups get together to recognise the contribution volunteers make to our communities every day. You can find out what's happening at the Volunteers Week website. You can support the celebration by getting involved and by using the hashtag #volunteersweek on social media.

So, thank you to all our Associates who volunteer, and volunteers everywhere!

We are delighted to announce that we have been appointed as a Value Added Partner by CGE Risk Solutions, the leading provider of barrier-based risk management solutions.

We have been using the bowtie methodology for several years with railway, metro, tram, fire & rescue and social care clients, so this appointment marks an important stage in how we help clients apply the technique.

Being a Value Added Partner for CGE Risk Solutions allows us to provide a complete solution for the bowtie risk assessment methodology; helping you to understand and apply the methodology and also provide and implement CGE’s specialist software for producing excellent bowties.
CGE Risk Solutions has verified that we have been trained in risk and incident analysis methods as well as the application of these in their software solutions.

If you are looking for consultancy (applying the bow tie technique to your business risks), training in the methodology and/or the software or advice on how to scope or purchase software then please contact us.
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John Baker, our Managing Partner, has researched two railway accidents that happened at the same Somerset village 50 years apart. This research has been in support of Norton Fitzwarren's bid to receive a 'red wheel' heritage plaque from the Transport Trust in recognition of the villagers' efforts to rescue the victims in both crashes. The leader of the project, Mary Hayward, had seen our news article on the 1940 accident and asked if we could help with her research. Of course, we were delighted to help especially since both accidents had a significant 'human factor' element.
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We have previously written a short article on the 1940 accident, but the accident of the 11th November 1890 was also blamed on 'human error'. In this accident the signaller, George Rice, forgot that he had left a goods train standing on the main line and allowed an approaching fast passenger train into the same section. The passenger train collided with the stationary goods engine, killing 10 passengers and seriously injuring many more.

John's research revealed several new facts about both accidents and also documented more about the victims and those involved. This research has been published on posters that will be displayed in Norton Fitzwarren Village Hall. Copies of the posters for download are included at the end of this article.

As part of the Red Wheel project, John was asked to give a radio interview to the BBC - this is now available on the BBC website.

​On the 17th November, the Transport Trust awarded Norton Fitzwarren with a 'Transport Heritage Site' award. We were delighted to attend to see the culmination of Mary Hayward's work to get the actions of the villagers recognised following these two tragic accidents.

We're delighted to be working with Vintage Trains, a Community Benefit Society that is set to become the UK's newest steam locomotive charter train operating company. The vision of Vintage Trains is to preserve express steam trains, keep them operating on the main line, to teach and transfer skills. 
Our work will initially involved railway safety critical skills training and training for Vintage Trains' trainers and competence assessors.

We have been awarded a contract to provide Mindfulness training to Blaenau Gwent & Caerphilly County Borough Councils' Social Care teams.
Becoming more aware of the present moment can help us enjoy the world around us more and understand ourselves better. When we become more aware of the present moment, we begin to experience afresh things that we have been taking for granted. There is a growing body of research that indicates that techniques that allow us to be aware of the present moment can reduce stress and improve mental wellbeing.
​Our mindfulness training provides an insight into mindfulness principles, as well as practical techniques that can be applied every day.

We're delighted to announce that our Managing Partner, John Baker, has become a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL).
The Institute is the UK’s elite professional body for trainers and learning and development professionals. Membership encompasses trainers, training consultants, training managers, professors & lecturers, training directors and training designers.
We will be able to provide ITOL accreditation for our range of training courses, and in the future may offer ITOL training programmes for training delivery, coaching, training management and training consultancy - please contact us if this is of interest.

On the 9 November 2016, a tram on the Croydon tramway network overturned at Sandilands. The tram had been travelling at 73 km/h when it entererd a curve that had a maximum speed limit of 20 km/h. The speed caused the tram to overturn as it passed through the curve, and resulted in passengers being thrown around inside the tram, with some being ejected through broken windows. Of the 69 passengers involved in the accident, seven died and 61 were injured; 19 seriously.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch's report has been released today and makes some far-reaching recommendations for the way tram operations in the UK are regulated and managed. Sadly, many of the recommendations are made about things that are already known about (and managed) in the rail sector, but which were not applied to tramway operations - tramways are often regarded as being more akin to road operations than rail operations. The accident at Sandilands makes it clear that rail sector engineering standards and management systems (for example fatigue management) are highly relevant to tram operations.
The investigation report concludes that it is probable that the tram driver temporarily lost awareness on a section of route on which his workload was low. A possible explanation for this loss of awareness was that the driver had a microsleep, and that this was linked to fatigue. Exacerbating this was that there were few landmarks so that the driver was unable to quickly reorient himself.
The report makes 15 recommendations to improve tramway safety. Some apply to the operator of the Croydon tram network (First Group), but many apply across  all UK tram operations:

• creating a dedicated safety body for UK tramways 
  
• reviewing how UK tramways are regulated
  
• introducing automatic braking and driver vigilance systems to trams (some tramways already have vigilance systems)
• developing a better understanding of the risks of tramway operations, particularly when the tramway is not on a road
• improving the strength of tram doors and windows
• improving safety management systems, particularly encouraging a culture in which everyone feels able to report their own mistakes
• improving the tram operator’s safety management arrangements.

As part of our work to support Locomotive Services (TOC) Limited, we recently spent a day creating video footage of emergency situations that can forseeably occur when operating on the railway network. To create these sequences safely we carried out full risk assesments and safety briefings on the day to make sure that we kept everyone (and some very expensive camera equipment!) safe.
These clips will be used to support learning programmes that we are creating for drivers, firemen, guards, stewards, shunters, service personnel and traction inspectors. The learning programmes are part of the organisation's competence management system that we have developed and support the operational rules and procedures that we are working on.
The top photograph shows what happens when the locomotive suffers a 'blowback' (as happened on a charter train service at Wood Green in 2012). Blowbacks occur when combustion products from the fire are blown back into the cab - when a train passes into a tunnel or when there is a mechanical failure of some sort (as happened at Pickering on a heritage railway in 2006).
The second photograph shows the moment that a detonator (also known as fog signals) explodes under the wheel of a locomotive. Detonators are small metal devices containing a limited quantity of explosive. Detonators are placed on the running surface of a rail by the traincrew to protect approaching trains of a hazard (derailment, track maintenance work, or something fouling the line) - the wheels of a train will cause the detonator to explode and the sound will alert the driver to to stop the train immediately. As well as creating video footage of detonators being placed, and then exploding, we wanted to test how audible they would be from the footplate of steam locomotive under a range of conditions.
We are hugely grateful to the volunteers and staff at the Churnet Valley Railway for providing access to their railway, the locomotive and train, the crew for the day and for allowing us to do some very unusual things!