On 11th October 2024, Network Rail issued its latest safety bulletin, announcing the updated application of Tended’s geofencing technology and thus confirming the critical role of geofencing in improving the safety of our railways. In addition to its many existing safety benefits, Tended’s alerting system is also approved for use on or near the line, following a period of thorough independent testing and analysis.
Organisations that undertake rail infrastructure works on or near rail lines can use geofencing technology to enhance the safety of their teams and help prevent them from working outside safe limits.
Live rail environments are inherently high risk to workers. Human factors, such as fatigue, distraction, miscommunication, assumptions and a loss of situational awareness can lead track workers to inadvertently deviate into a hazardous area or onto a rail line still open to traffic.
Scenarios that can increase the risk of workers deviating outside of pre-planned and agreed safe work limits:
- When accessing the worksite
- Working in a line block with open lines
- Working in a possession with open lines
- Working in a possession with all lines blocked
- Egressing from track
The risks of leaving safe work limits when working on or near the line can be significant and include near misses, where workers have just seconds to move out of the path of high-speed trains, severe injuries and fatalities.
To help prevent incidents onsite, pre-planned safe work areas are defined with systems in place to reduce the risk to workers to as low as reasonably practicable. A safe system that can be introduced is geofencing technology, which has been implemented by Network Rail routes and principal contractors to help reduce the risk to track workers in high-risk rail environments.
How geofencing can be used to reduce risk
Geofencing technology enables individuals to map safe zones to represent work areas in worksites. Track identifiers, such as track IDs and mile and chain indicators are provided to help ensure these are plotted in the right location and at the right length in accordance with the safe work pack (SWP).
Wearable devices are then worn by workers, which provide audio and visual alerts to notify them if they exit safe working limits, helping to mitigate the risk of accidents and injury.
Accessing the worksite
Geofencing can be used to help ensure workers enter the worksite from the authorised access point as per the SWP. A geofence is drawn where the access point is to be used by workers. Their device will then emit a validation alert to confirm that they are in a predetermined safe zone. This can help prevent scenarios that can compromise worker safety, such as:
- Workers accessing worksites in the wrong location (outside of the safe limits), for example from the wrong access point or on the wrong side of the track as per the SWP plan.
- Accessing the track at the wrong time, for example before a possession or line block is granted.
During works to help prevent workers exiting safe work limits
To prevent incidents with workers operating outside of safe limits, geofencing can be implemented. A geofence can be mapped to represent the safe work limits on a worksite, which creates a virtual boundary between safe and unsafe areas in line with rule book requirements. Devices then alert should track workers exit safe work limits to provide a clear warning that they may no longer be in a position of safety and to check with their COSS or supervisor.
Scenarios of where geofencing device alerts can be used to improve safety
- Working in a line block with open lines if workers leave the defined safe limits
- Working in a possession with open lines if workers leave the defined safe limits
- Working in a possession with all lines blocked if workers continue beyond the possession limits
- In any of the above scenarios when a possession or line block is given back and the track they were working on becomes a live open line
Tended is also helping to ensure workers are clear from the line when it is reopened
Tended’s geofenced safe zones are activated at the press of a button on an online Dashboard to start or stop the safe area of work. This is intended to be managed by the person speaking with the signaller to take or give back a line block or possession, usually the PICOP or COSS. This provides an alert to anyone still on the line if it is to be reopened to traffic so all track workers can move to a safe position.
These devices support workers by providing location information to mitigate the risk of human error onsite and alert to improve situational awareness, helping to prevent workers from being outside of safe work areas.
Egressing from track
When exiting a worksite, track workers should have a pre-planned safe route to follow. This may be via a line block to enable them to cross the rail infrastructure or via a CESS to walk a safe distance away from the nearest open line in accordance with the approved SSoW in the SWP. Creating a geofence to define this egress route can support worker safety by alerting them the moment they deviate from this and notifying them to move back to a position of safety.
Lead the way in safety innovation at your organisation
Geofencing technology offers an extra layer of safety to track workers when situational awareness is lost or other human factors impact judgement or decision making.
Tended’s geofencing solution has full acceptance for use on or near the line on Network Rail managed infrastructure, and, as stated in its latest safety bulletin, 'geofencing has an important role to play in improving the safety of our railway'.
With this official approval, it's time for geofencing to become the industry standard for protecting everyone working on our railways
If you’d like to learn more about how geofencing can be used to improve the safety of your teams in rail environments, please get in touch.
