Joanne Boocock

Said the following about Lewis Johnson:

“Working on a live railway has always been among the most dangerous occupations in the industry. With ten trackside workers losing their lives since 2019, and an average of 20 near misses reported each month, the need to improve safety on the railway is paramount. Having a Safety leader who is visible to the wider team, always on hand to support, and most importantly an approachable individual who is not shy to support overcome a problem.

Lewis Johnson is the model of safety and I can’t think of a more dedicated, customer focused, safety champion creating positive change from a supply change perspective.

In his current role as Head of EHS at Alstom Transport UK, Lewis leads by example to create a top class safety culture amongst our signalling delivery workforce. Lewis is instrumental in implementing new solutions, and he has done a fantastic job supporting and being the Alstom Ambassador for rolling out Geofencing.

Alstom was awarded the ‘Plant & Equipment Safety Award’ in 2023 for the implementation & development of Onwave Geofencing across the Capital Delivery Portfolio, an initiative led by many members of the Alstom Team, and a special mention to Kevin Todd, Mark Harris, Jason Jennings, Warren Fowler & David Hawksworth, who collectively have worked tirelessly to support a swift & effective roll out.

Geofencing uses positioning technology to create virtual boundaries, allowing us to create safe zones to protect workers from hazards. When workers leave their agreed areas of safety, a wearable device alerts them, helping workers immediately regain situational awareness. This provides a signal that they should move back to a position of safety, helping to stop workers from continuing into the path of oncoming trains or other hazards. Geofencing technology can be set up in minutes and deployed rapidly, which suits the nature of the work we do daily.

By improving trackside safety and reducing accident risk, Alstom is certainly taking that vital next step to comply with Network Rail’s Standard 019.“