Safety Critical?

[Any Permitted]

What does this actually mean? Sometimes when applying for railway jobs I see a lot of stuff about safety critical and I'm not sure if it applies. Do you have to be 'safety critical' if you're a customer 'host', ticket office staff, conductor or station assistant?

If you're overweight does this affect your status as safety critical? What kind of things would stop you from being allowed to work in a safety critical postion?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Safety Critical staff are those where if they do their jobs wrongly, then lives are endangered.

They are people like guards, drivers, signallers, MOMs, infrastructure staff. Revenue staff or customer hosts are not (IIRC) safety critical.

 

[CarterUSM]

What does this actually mean? Sometimes when applying for railway jobs I see a lot of stuff about safety critical and I'm not sure if it applies. Do you have to be 'safety critical' if you're a customer 'host', ticket office staff, conductor or station assistant?

If you're overweight does this affect your status as safety critical? What kind of things would stop you from being allowed to work in a safety critical postion?

Signalmen, Conductors/Guards, Shunters, Drivers, Despatchers and p-way men are safety critical, there are others too, that was just off the top of my head before others give me grief! Things that could affect your safety critical status could be medications, injuries amongst others. All medications, prescribed and over the counter must be declared as per the alcohol and drugs policy, though this affects ALL rail staff, not just safety critical ones. I'm sure someone else could give you much more info than I though.

 

[rail-britain]

Some people don't want or like "safety critical" roles, such that they turn up for work, do their job, then go home
Equally, the employer wants to make sure the candidate is the right type of candidate

Performing such a role usually means completing and/or understanding a Risk Assessment, then following this up if necessary
Whereas a role that does not require this would simply mean reporting it only

The issues then increase depending on the role
For example a shunter is safety critical for that of themselves, the train, and any persons in the vicinty, whereas a signaller is safety critical for themselves, and all trains under their direct control, and so on

Finally, a safety critical role would usually be one of the last persons to leave in the event of an evacuation, all other persons would leave first