PAVING THE WAY IN RAILWAY: Capel C.S on Employees’ H&S after Covid-19

More than one in three rail construction workers meet the clinical criteria for a mental health condition,

according to a survey published late last year by The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB).

The survey also concluded that anxiety was 1.5 higher rate in rail employees compared to the general population during the same period. Working in public-facing roles & increased pressure during the pandemic did influence their anxiety, but at least 30% of (4,000) respondents experienced work-related traumatic events.

Some risk factors impacting employee’s mental wellbeing connected to: exposure to fatalities, poor physical environment, work intensity, poor workplace ergonomics, bullying / harassment, zero hour contracts and more. As a UK Employer, we have a duty to care for our employee’s health & safety: revolving around mental, physical, environmental. emotional and other factors that could affect our workers.

At Capel C.S, our employees and the public are at the core of our values, projects and work. As a RISQS accredited contractor in the GB Rail industry for almost 30 years, H&S has always been a pivotal factor in our projects, but it is no surprise that new measures had to take place into our daily routines during the pandemic.

Thanks to our team-working and whole-organisation approach, we have been able to implement some of the following to further improve our workforce H&S:

• Direct weekly updates from H&S to ALL departments including on-site managers for engineers briefing

• New additions to improve daily protocols of H&S reporting. We introduced the iAuditor app for on-site workers to report good & bad observations with a QR Code

• Training H&S Management in Mental Health First Aid Level 2

• Ensuring all commitments & projects are aligned with Client’s H&S measures too

• Bespoke on-site Risk Assessments

• Training all employees in Mental Health Awareness to support fellow colleagues

• Technical Briefings with management & workers for UK Gov’s Rail Standards changes

• Covid-19 Rapid lateral Flow testing, completed two-three times a week on all operating sites. All results are recorded, logged & reviewed weekly

• Set up a management group emailing system where any Covid-19 communications, testing guidance, testing results or queries can be directly sent to all levels of management. This enables everyone to be continually informed of any covid-19 related information across all operational, working sites.

As we continue to move forwards and embark on new projects, we remain focused on the most important priority of all: to care for our employees.

We continue to strive to improve our support to the workforce, our H&S Protocols & on-site risk management, and continuously educate ourselves on how to be better for our colleagues, employees, the public, and ourselves.

For more information on Capel C.S Ltd, our company or services, please visit us at www.capelcsltd.com.