Safe-Tea

[Domh245]

Came across this article earlier which I found quite amusing. It is good to see that the orange army is being taken care of however!

It’s a cold and dark night. A team of Network Rail and contractor track workers assembled at the access point and then trudged a mile and a half, on uneven ballast and avoiding the slippery sleepers, to this work site in a damp cutting.

That was well over an hour ago. Now, to warm chilled bodies and revive flagging spirits, it’s time for a cup of tea.

But the kettle is a mile and a half away. That’s over an hour of down time, and time is something this overnight possession just doesn’t have.

So forget the tea – everyone must just carry on and forget how cold and weary they are...

But now, thanks to David Sowter, senior HSEQ advisor for Amey, that’s all in the past. Now, workers can take a short break and visit the tea trolley.

A tea trolley? On a track renewals site? Yes, because David has developed the world’s first Safe-Tea Trolley – a self-contained refreshments unit for railway workers...

The trolley is a small unit that can be safely lifted by two workers and latched onto a standard track trolley, which means it can be transported along the tracks to wherever workers are based. The unit provides staff with the ability to make hot and cold drinks and also has a small amount of storage so workers can mix up certain hot snacks, such as pot noodles.

Funded by Amey, the trolley was approved by Network Rail after one of its quickest-ever acceptance procedures.

Only in Britain would this have come about!

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Came across this article earlier which I found quite amusing. It is good to see that the orange army is being taken care of however!

Only in Britain would this have come about!

Possibly - but in my opinion a good thing. When you have refreshed workers with their physical needs taken care of with little downtime to NR, you get high motivation and a job done well (I am not trying to suggest it would not be done well without refreshment - but it just gives a boost.) So all round, a great idea.

 

[Nym]

I suppose in Italy it would have been an Espresso machine?

It is a very good idea though.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I wonder if they can come up with a version with an autocoupler... Hey presto, a cut-price buffet car for Northern!

 

[tsr]

Do WCRC have one at Carnforth with vodka in it?

 

[Blindtraveler]

This is excillent. The world of mobile catering has come on leaps and bounds but it really has progressed when a soloution that can deliver a cuppa hot and fresh to the most inaccessable paet of the network is approved. Bravo, particularly to the storage area for a box of cuppa soupes or whatever
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When you have refreshed workers with their physical needs taken care of with little downtime to NR, you get high motivation and a job done well (I am not trying to suggest it would not be done well without refreshment - but it just gives a boost.) So all round, a great idea.

agreed, and totally here

 

[HLE]

Hmm I feel something has already been invented before which would be appropriate: a flask?

Not familiar with P-Way so excuse my ignorance if I've stepped out of line !

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Hmm I feel something has already been invented before which would be appropriate: a flask?

Not familiar with P-Way so excuse my ignorance if I've stepped out of line !

A flask tends to "stew" tea. You could have a flask of hot water and then teabags and carry your own milk and sugar etc, but that is a little clumsy and messy IMHO. So this is a better idea.

 

[najaB]

A flask tends to "stew" tea. You could have a flask of hot water and then teabags and carry your own milk and sugar etc, but that is a little clumsy and messy IMHO. So this is a better idea.

Also, this is more useful than a flask when a twenty-minute, no need to bring the flask job turns into a two-hour and now I'm freezing cold job.

 

[ilkestonian]

Anyone know how much it costs?

 

[DarloRich]

Only in Britain would this have come about!

Hmm I feel something has already been invented before which would be appropriate: a flask?

Not familiar with P-Way so excuse my ignorance if I've stepped out of line !

Anyone know how much it costs?

Note to self: refrain from sarcastic tone! They know not what they write. Some facts to chew over:

1. The idea came from a Track Safety Alliance a pan industry body dedicated to making things safer for track workers - it was people on the ground who asked for the facility
   
2. They can dispense hot and cold drinks
   
3. There is storage provision for dry food stuffs/rations to allow for instant hot food to be provided
   
4. The trolley also carries first aid, eye wash and they are look at a defibrillator unit
   
5. It is designed for use in big jobs/groups rather than single out and back jobs when a flask is more practical if still quite heavy
   
6. It is designed as away to help reduce track side worker fatigue and therefore increase safety (and quietly) efficiency
   
7. The cost to you for this was £0. Amey paid all of the costs of the prototype and they retail for around £5k

 

[jopsuk]

Seems like an excellent solution to a problem identified by those at the coalface. What's ot to like?

 

[Domeyhead]

I had a solution to working in woods far from a source of hot water. It was called a themos flask. I went further. I researched for a method of carrying foodstuffs and first aid and finally came up with........a bag.

 

[najaB]

I had a solution to working in woods far from a source of hot water. It was called a themos flask. I went further. I researched for a method of carrying foodstuffs and first aid and finally came up with........a bag.

Just what they need cluttering up the work site - thirty or forty bags and flasks... :roll:

 

[rebmcr]

Do WCRC have one at Carnforth with vodka in it?

Comment of the week!

 

[3141]

....When you have refreshed workers with their physical needs taken care of....

Have they also developed the Safe-Pee?

 

[MrGrumpy]

Have they also developed the Safe-Pee?

Looks like the chap who developed the Safe-Tea also designed a cabin for that very purpose (amongst other things).

 

[AnonymousUser1]

it;s like foreign militaries being amazed at all our armoured vehicles and green fleet LGVs having a 'boiling vessel ' ( and apparently ffr landies can have them but on the grey market of off the list stocks )

 

[Marklund]

It's the most commented article on Connect - NR's Intranet, and not for the right reasons.

While welfare on site is imperative, this is a joke.
It's only relevant on massive jobs, where the site is far from the access point.

Toilet facilities, even hand washing facilities would have been much, much more appropriate.

 

[Hellzapoppin]

On massive jobs it's not unusual to put in a temp access and facilities closer to the site of work, time is lost getting staff backwards and forwards to their van/cabin when they could use that time getting a job done especially if they have to take line blocks to gain access. When the work starts in Chipping Sodbury tunnel as part of the electrification works its intended to put welfare facilities in the tunnel. I also think, but not 100% certain, that's as part of H&S you must provide certain facilities for staff.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Have they also developed the Safe-Pee?

They had these facilities combined back in the early days of American railroad construction - an idea borrowed from the locals.

I'll see myself out.

 

[stut]

Reminds me of this sign on the Chennai metro construction site:

https://flic.kr/p/jFSSQz

which is up there with "after whisky driving risky"...