Railways and type 1 diabetes

[bongobongo]

What issues have people had with type 1 diabetes?
Please no stone age replies about completely unacceptable etc.
Real issues that have arisen because of it

 

[Elecman]

Do you mean in respect of working on the railways or passing a pre employment medical?

 

[bongobongo]

working on the railways
I'm trying to ascertain if my experience is repeated elsewhere

 

[me123]

Would you like to share your experience?

 

[bongobongo]

I'm in work and have had type one diabetes for over 15 years. Legislation has changed alot in that time. I require access to Network rail infrastructure and have a red triangle on my sentinal card. with the current rssb (forgot number) diabetes has a lovely long section about its issues. It does not say explicitly that you type 1 diabetes will mean that I cannot get a sentinal card without a red triangle. Indeed under the equality act 2010 it would most likely be illegal to automatically ban someone with a disability. (the person must be assessed not the disability)
after a bupa medical today where I saw there internal document (which said quite clearly type 1 diabetics must be accompanied on track) a blatent breach of the act ie saying explicitly that a disability automatically precludes you from doing a job. I wondered if anyone else had experienced simalar
By the way after speaking to who I believe is the head of occupational health of network rail and a spokesperson at office of rail regulation, I was informed that at present a new rssb instruction is out in its initial stage bringing the rail industry more in line with the standards for DVLA and diabetes

 

[MichaelAMW]

I'm in work and have had type one diabetes for over 15 years. Legislation has changed alot in that time. I require access to Network rail infrastructure and have a red triangle on my sentinal card. with the current rssb (forgot number) diabetes has a lovely long section about its issues. It does not say explicitly that you type 1 diabetes will mean that I cannot get a sentinal card without a red triangle. Indeed under the equality act 2010 it would most likely be illegal to automatically ban someone with a disability. (the person must be assessed not the disability)
after a bupa medical today where I saw there internal document (which said quite clearly type 1 diabetics must be accompanied on track) a blatent breach of the act ie saying explicitly that a disability automatically precludes you from doing a job. I wondered if anyone else had experienced simalar
By the way after speaking to who I believe is the head of occupational health of network rail and a spokesperson at office of rail regulation, I was informed that at present a new rssb instruction is out in its initial stage bringing the rail industry more in line with the standards for DVLA and diabetes

Without wishing to in any way sound unsympathetic towwards you and you work, it is not illegal to "automatically ban" someone with a disbility if the risks associated with the disability (or medical condition) are already clear. For example, you couldn't be a signaller if you were colour blind and it wouldn't be necessary to investigate that further once the fact of your being colour blind had been established. My understanding is that diabetes of either type carries with it an established risk of becoming incapacitated without much warning; I suspect that is the issue here. The "railway" is risk averse and has high safety standards so it doesn't surprise me that the regulations for car driving are different.

You obviously believe that the current rule is too severe, I guess because you have managed your condition successfully for a long time, so I wish you well for an appropriate relaxing of those RSSB regulations.

 

[bongobongo]

Without wishing to in any way sound unsympathetic towwards you and you work, it is not illegal to "automatically ban" someone with a disbility if the risks associated with the disability (or medical condition) are already clear. For example, you couldn't be a signaller if you were colour blind and it wouldn't be necessary to investigate that further once the fact of your being colour blind had been established. My understanding is that diabetes of either type carries with it an established risk of becoming incapacitated without much warning; I suspect that is the issue here. The "railway" is risk averse and has high safety standards so it doesn't surprise me that the regulations for car driving are different.

You obviously believe that the current rule is too severe, I guess because you have managed your condition successfully for a long time, so I wish you well for an appropriate relaxing of those RSSB regulations.

Thanks for your words,

Diabetes is not a black and white condition like color blindness. it has a wide spectrum of severity.

The rail industry has got to get to grip with the issues involved, the control of diabetes has changed significantly due to technology and better treatment.

From my recent talks things are changing but as can be seen from your comments "My understanding is that diabetes of either type carries with it an established risk of becoming incapacitated without much warning" something which is untrue for people with good control, the industry must open its eyes to developments.

Indeed I read that there is now a underground driver with type 1 diabetes.

Technology such as blood sugar implants (allowing continuous reading of blood sugars) mean that a lot of the old reasons have become redundant
From my discussions the relaxation to be more in line with dvla (presumably hgv group 2) which is I think out for discussion at the present time is a welcome step

The rail industry (Network Rail) is not the only industry to face this issue and not the only one to be risk averse. Other industries/companies have faced the challenge. Indeed my own company have found with very minor adjustments I can do my job as any other worker - apart from when I have to access Network rail infrastructure and need a baby sitter! to walk down a track!

 

[theironroad]

I'm not diabetic, but the advances in technology may well be ahead of the rules, so you do have a point about nr and tocs keeping up to date.

A quick Google lead me to info about the continuous glucose monitoring system.

 

[ComUtoR]

In a world of liability. Should the Railway take the risk ? What are the statistics for severe problems with type 1 diabetics ? How many per year suffer from an incident which could potentially crash a train ?