Surjit Bharj

Said the following about GWR Engineering Depot Team GWR:

“The GWR Engineering Depot Team has made major changes to assist customers and staff to make the depots a safer place to work.

The first system, called Sirenum, was introduced to help reduce incidents and accidents within GWR Engineering. Sirenum was tailor made to allow team leaders and management to better manage and control staff fatigue and risk values and also ensure compliance for briefings and competencies. By putting this in place we have reduced our incidents and accidents by half.

Sirenum is a multipurpose Rostering Management system that manages each individual shift within GWR Engineering. Whilst managing the shifts and providing clear data and visibility for everyone through multiple platforms it also monitors the fatigue and risk factors of each individual on a real-time basis whilst providing real-time 'Hidden' management. Sirenum’s ability to warn team leaders and management of 'at risk' colleagues when they are nearing, or over business and railway standards to allow action to be taken prior to any breach is innovative and intelligent. Sirenum is currently in 7 of 8 engineering locations throughout GWR and since its rollout through the last 18 months no Depot using Sirenum has had a 'Hidden' breach with most depots also conforming fatigue and risk guidelines. With its rostering capabilities, Sirenum can also send the required payment details to payroll at the end of every day so all depots use the same report rather than the multitude of spreadsheets received previously, saving time on both sides of payroll.

Sirenum, facilitating individuals’ competencies and briefing records, also warns team leaders and management when either of these is due. Depots using these functions are seeing the benefits already.

Sirenum’s success within GWR Engineering has been noticed by parent company First Group and is currently undergoing trials within First Bus, notably in the South West region. This trial and the entire premise of being transferred to operations within Bus Engineering was facilitated by the GWR Engineering Depot Team with support being offered whenever required. First Bus intends to roll-out Sirenum to its entire engineering division with a successful trial proving Sirenum as a system within First Group.

The second system was created and customised by the depot team with support from a company called Digigreet. The team customised the current system to fit a better purpose. The team wanted to allow customers to electronically sign in as visitors or contractors, allowing the depots to ensure they had the right customers on site to improve compliance and security. The system uses a touch screen to allow people to sign in and out meaning only people registered on the system can sign in and anyone who has not been registered refused entry. The system has been in place at OOC and has been a huge success with staff knowing exactly who is on site at any point. The highlight of the system is its cloud based architecture that can be utilised anywhere within rail and other sectors.

I believe GWR Engineering Depot Team have been committed to putting these in place not only to improve safety but to make our customers feel safer, the team are proud of what they have achieved and deserve to be nominated for Depot Team of the Year.“