Stephen Pears

Said the following about Lee Clinton:

“telent Operations Manager Lee Clinton is responsible for the installation and commissioning of the radio infrastructure on the RETB Next Generation Radio Signalling project. Currently being deployed in Scotland on the West Highland Line and Far North Line on behalf of Network Rail, this is one of the most physically demanding installations on the rail network.

The deployment involves dealing with many hazards: working at height and with electricity, off-road driving to exposed hillside locations and challenging deliveries of equipment, materials and people to the site, including deliveries by helicopter to remote mountain locations. The work is often hampered further by poor mobile reception and extreme weather conditions.

Lee has played a pivotal role in driving and promoting health and safety. In his role as telent Operations Manager, Lee has ensured that meticulous planning, risk assessment, preparation and training of staff has been undertaken to ensure the safety of his team. Lee has instigated a number of processes that have been recognised as very best practice in recent third party audits and Rail Industry Safety awards. His passion for protecting his team can be summed up by his own words, “No one gets left behind.”

Partnership Working

Having worked exclusively on the RETB project for over three years, Lee and his team have become embedded with the customer. Lee realised early on this project required careful migration including user participation. With a switch from one system to another at a fixed point in the future, it is imperative that those using the new system are involved in its installation, to prepare for a smooth transition. Lee’s excellent communication skills and understanding of the needs of the customer have led to a very close working relationship.

David Anderson, Section Manager, Network Rail explained “I’ve worked with Lee for the last two years. He’s always eager to help us and has kept us fully up to speed throughout the installation. The new system will present a completely different way of working for us and Lee continues to share his considerable knowledge and experience in order to ensure the change goes smoothly. An all-round good guy!”

Leadership

Working in locations which, at certain times of the year, become extremely challenging, Lee has also demonstrated first class leadership skills. With his teams enduring gruelling shift patterns in often inhospitable locations, the team remain highly motivated to achieve a successful installation on schedule.

Steve Pears, Managing Director, telent, said “Lee and his team have demonstrated how to undertake challenging work safely, implementing best practice and enabling lessons to be learnt across the telent business and health and safety community.”

Health and Safety

The deployment is particularly hazardous as most of the radio sites are located in exposed places that require special access arrangements, far away from any main road or Network Rail controlled infrastructure. The site work is hazardous and the requirement includes delivering large volumes of equipment, materials and people to the site, sometimes by helicopter. Once at site the hazards continue and include working at height and with electricity.

Meticulous Planning

Due to the remote locations of the sites, Lee put together a carefully thought out plan and with the project team members identified a number of risks and mitigations that needed managing in order to ensure the safety of the team. The plan included training for the environment, professional off road driving courses, regular vehicle inspections, additional special PPE requirements, issue of Personal Locator Beacons and working with Mountain Rescue when dealing with the highest Network Rail asset, located at the top of White Corries in the Cairngorms:

• Ensuring that the team was well trained for the environment and had the correct equipment. Bearing in mind that these sites were at remote locations on exposed hill sides some requiring hours of off road driving. Lee ensured that each member of the team undertook a professional off road driving course including how to deal with various situations included being stranded miles from help.

• The Vehicles are checked weekly to ensure they remain roadworthy after miles of off road driving. Vehicle check lists were developed and records kept on site. This process was recognised commended as best practice by a recent Network Rail PC auditor.

• Each member of the team was equipped with additional special PPE in addition to the standard Railway PPE. For example, studded boot grippers were issued to avoid slips trips and falls.

• At some remote locations no mobile phone reception is available, so each team leader is equipped with a Personal locator beacon (PLB) which if activated sends a distress signal on the marine emergency frequency. This enables the appropriate emergency service to be deployed and the location of the distress call to be tracked to the exact location.

• Finally, the highest Network Rail Asset is located at the top of White Corries in the Cairngorms. The assent and descent is particular hazardous the weather conditions change by the hour and can be extreme. The work required more than the normal safety process to ensure the safety of the staff undertaking the work. In order to mitigate the hazards, the local mountain rescue leader Andy Nelson was hired to undertake a mountain risk assessment for the works and escort the telent when working here during the winter. Having undertaken meticulous planning, the work was undertaken safely and has set the benchmark within telent for planning, risk assessment and mitigation.

IOSH Award

Lee has been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the West of Scotland Branch of IOSH. The awards, for non-safety professionals, recognise those considered to make valuable contributions to safety in their organisations.

Steve Pears, Managing Director, of telent, said “Lee has, again, demonstrated that thorough planning is key to maintaining an excellent safety record in hazardous environments. We’re thrilled Lee’s meticulous consideration for the safety of his team has been recognised by IOSH.”“