Where is the 'NO' option ?
Lol changed it now. Any reason or examples why it would be a no?
Which all leads me to an honest answer where 'no' I do not always follow the rules. I would do my best to follow the rules and I understand the importance of them, especially in a railway context, but the reality is very different.
No. That ain't going to happen.
Here is something that came up in discussions following the serious fire at Smithy Bridge on the middle vehicle of 144023 some years ago. It was acknowledged that if the fire had happened a few minutes later in Summit Tunnel rather than in the open like it did, there was a likelihood that passengers could have lost their lives.
In a drivers' safety brief the following year the whole incident was deconstructed and portrayed, from lead-up to aftermath. There was a full investigation which highlighted a lot of failings by many of the staff involved and some of the equipment meant to be provided for use in such an emergency. Some of those failings were brought up in the safety brief and also some potential complications in a similar incident, such as what would have happened if the incident had occured in a long tunnel.
Driver's instructions in the rule book are quite clear. M1 4.1 says:
"You must try to put out any fire on the train. However, if it will not be possible to put the fire out within a few seconds, you must make sure the train is stopped immediately.
Where possible you must not stop the train or allow it to remain:
• in a tunnel
• on a viaduct, or
• at any other unsuitable place."
One scenario posed in the safety brief was that of a passenger operating the 'passcom' (emergency alarm, shortened from 'passenger communications equipment') in a tunnel when a train is on fire. On the unit involved at Smithy Bridge and all other 14x and 15x units a passcom being operated would immediately cause an emergency brake application. This brake application can only be overridden by the driver or guard physically resetting the passcom in question using a carriage key. There are several passcoms in most traction units, usually one or two in a saloon, in each lavatory and at least one at every door vestibule.
Whereabouts on the train a passcom has been activated can be indicated to the driver and guard by the external hazard lights (and uniquely on a 144 by a light on the cab desk which illuminates whenever the hazard lights are lit on that actual vehicle). However there are other systems beside a passcom which can also cause a hazard light to illuminate inns diesel unit - fire detection system activation, exterior door opened/released/fault, TCA (track circuit actuator/assistor) fault and brake control circuit breaker tripped. So it wouldn't necessarily be obvious that it was a passcom activated, there is a good chance that in a fire situation the hazard light would be illuminated by the activation of the fire detection system or by a passenger panicking and maybe operating an emergency door egress (which would also cause an emergency brake application on all 14x/15x units).
Pop Quiz(s)
Your unit develops a critical fault. The brake are randomly coming on and off, the interlock is dropping in and out. You are at a very busy station and cannot open your doors. Your options are to go wrong road through a major metro area. This won't resolve the fault and will block the area and ultimately block a platform at a major terminal. The unit will also need recovering later. Or you can flip an MCB and go ECS to the depot (which is what will happen later anyway). You are not allowed to trip MCBs but you have been given permission to do so. Which would you do ?
When preparing your unit for service you discover a skirt open (below sole bar cover) There is an air leak and the normally covered isolation cock will stop the leak. Do you isolate the cock and close the cupboard. This will resolve the leak and allow the train to be recovered to the depot. Or do you leave it because its an isolation cock that is usually inaccessible and not touched ?
A stop mark in a sidings is incorrectly placed and your unit will foul the points. However, the latest instruction is to stop at the marked board. Do you stop or go past ?
A passenger gets their coat stuck in a door from the inside. Unfortunately the door is on the offside and the rules state they cannot be opened on the offside or when not accommodated in a platform.
Do you quickly release the door enough to pull the coat out or inform the passenger they have to wait till there is a suitable platform or leave their coat stuck ?
Pop Quiz: vandals place shopping trolley on the line and you know there's a fast train approaching in minutes as you are the station supervisor, do you get on to the track and remove it because you fear for a dreadful disaster and get sacked for breaking procedure, or do you follow procedure?
Pop Quiz(s)
A stop mark in a sidings is incorrectly placed and your unit will foul the points. However, the latest instruction is to stop at the marked board. Do you stop or go past ?
Pop Quiz(s)
A passenger gets their coat stuck in a door from the inside. Unfortunately the door is on the offside and the rules state they cannot be opened on the offside or when not accommodated in a platform.
Do you quickly release the door enough to pull the coat out or inform the passenger they have to wait till there is a suitable platform or leave their coat stuck ?
Pop Quiz(s)
Your unit develops a critical fault. The brake are randomly coming on and off, the interlock is dropping in and out. You are at a very busy station and cannot open your doors. Your options are to go wrong road through a major metro area. This won't resolve the fault and will block the area and ultimately block a platform at a major terminal. The unit will also need recovering later. Or you can flip an MCB and go ECS to the depot (which is what will happen later anyway). You are not allowed to trip MCBs but you have been given permission to do so. Which would you do ?
Is it worth losing your job over and with it the mortgage on your house which you've spent a lifetime trying to earn, the house which gives a home to your family, and is it worth making your Wife and Kids homeless over?
How do you know the stop board is incorrectly placed?
It might be placed their intentionally with the full knowledge that it will foul the points. It may be there to protect a section of defective track. It may be there for many reasons which you are not aware of and the consequences of it being there may have been planned for.
How did the passenger get their coat stuck in the offside door anyway? They must have been stuck from at least the last station.
Do you want to risk them failing from the train just so they don't have to wait until the next suitable platform?
Do you know why you are not allowed to trip MCBs?
What are the consequences of you tripping the MCB?
Does obtaining permission then override the prohibition on you tripping MCBs?
That's the answer, for me. It highlights the importance of having a thorough understanding of the underlying principles to the Rule Book. It shows the difference between those who know the rules inside out and can do what the book tells them until they happen across a situation that the rules don't really cover, and those who know how to interpret and apply the rules to those unusual situations. I don't particularly like the distinction between breaking rules and bending rules, but it seems vaguely relevant. There are some things that you must do and some things that you must not do, and the rest is down to you to decide what needs to be done and in which order. I do like this clause:Nothing is black and white. The problem is that there is no real rule stating YOU MUST NOT. This is purely because of the physical location of the MCB that will resolve the fault. Rules do not allow for every circumstance so you tend to get caught in a bit of a grey area and stuck between a rock and a hard place. Breaking the rule not to trip that specific MCB, resolves the fault and saves the company thousands of pounds. Does that financial penalty justify breaking of the rules ? For some that's a no in any circumstance. Is there a safety risk involved ? no, but again does that justify the action taken ? The problem with our job is that sometimes you do get told to do something that isn't quite within the rulebook or sits in a grey area. Sometimes mistakes are made because someone gets told the wrong thing to do and they do it blindly. Again, there is a balance to maintain and as 'The Lad' states. It takes a lot of knowledge and understanding as well as experience to be able to make those decisions.
Rule Book Module G1 said:Safety must always be your first concern. If there is no rule that allows or prevents you doing something you believe must be done, you must do it in the safest way you know taking into account your training and experience.
I don't understand why you wouldn't be allowed to trip MCBs? I can understand them not wanting you to go off and start fault-finding on your own. If Maintenance Control authorise you (or indeed instruct you) to go and trip a particular MCB to try and resolve the fault, then surely that is all the permission that you need? I'd draw the line at Control "authorising" me to do something that the Rule Book (or TOC-specific appendices, yuk) or Sectional Appendix expressly prohibits.Your unit develops a critical fault. The brake are randomly coming on and off, the interlock is dropping in and out. You are at a very busy station and cannot open your doors. Your options are to go wrong road through a major metro area. This won't resolve the fault and will block the area and ultimately block a platform at a major terminal. The unit will also need recovering later. Or you can flip an MCB and go ECS to the depot (which is what will happen later anyway). You are not allowed to trip MCBs but you have been given permission to do so. Which would you do ?
If Control authorises it, why not? My traction training tells me what these isolating cocks are for and the consequences of operating one. I recall prepping one to find that the horn didn't work at all, and further investigation quickly revealed that it had been isolated during repairs and - in error - not reinstated. At the most, a quick phone call to make sure that there wasn't another reason for it being left isolated, then get on with it?When preparing your unit for service you discover a skirt open (below sole bar cover) There is an air leak and the normally covered isolation cock will stop the leak. Do you isolate the cock and close the cupboard. This will resolve the leak and allow the train to be recovered to the depot. Or do you leave it because its an isolation cock that is usually inaccessible and not touched ?
Where is the stop mark relative to the points? Is it such that it's just beyond the fouling point so that the front of the unit will foul the points, or such that it'll be rear of the unit that won't be inside clear? Either way, it's a rock and a hard place, but the Rule Book requirement to not leave your train foul (or at least to tell the person in charge if you have to leave it foul) takes precedence every time for me. If it's a stop board rather than just a car stop marker, seek the shunter's authority to go far enough past it to be inside at the rear. If it isn't a stop board, why is it so critical that the train is stopped exactly at the stop mark?A stop mark in a sidings is incorrectly placed and your unit will foul the points. However, the latest instruction is to stop at the marked board. Do you stop or go past ?
A passenger gets their coat stuck in a door from the inside. Unfortunately the door is on the offside and the rules state they cannot be opened on the offside or when not accommodated in a platform.
It's getting more interesting now! What if the train's about to be taken out of service to go for stabling? On the other hand, what if you release the local door briefly and the passenger manages to fall out, perhaps being caught off balance by their coat suddenly being freed? Maybe it's one for Control to make a decision on. Taking a line blockage on the adjacent line first might be a sensible precaution though!Do you quickly release the door enough to pull the coat out or inform the passenger they have to wait till there is a suitable platform or leave their coat stuck ?
I've always asked myself whether, if I'm later gripping the brass rail, will I be able to justify what I've done. If I've done something that the Rule Book clearly says that I must not do, then I'm probably going to be in trouble unless I had a very good reason for doing so. If I've dealt with a situation that the Rule Book doesn't cover prescriptively, by applying the rules as sensibly and safely as I can, then I'd like to think that I'd be able to justify my actions.Easiest answer
If you are standing in Her Majesty's Dock and you have acted in accordance with the Rule book, no problems
If you have acted outside the Rule book, no matter the circumstances ........... your on your own, however well meant