Richard Cooper

Said the following about Mateusz Lawrynowicz:

“Mateusz joined Bridgeway in 2011 as a Civil Engineering Graduate on the back of employment within a national bank, and at the time of joining had little practical experience in engineering and none in the rail industry. In his first role as Graduate Surveyor, Mateusz’ first challenge was to learn from the Bridgeway Survey team both the technical and rail specific aspects of surveying on the railway. From that point onward Mateusz has fully immersed himself in the railway lifestyle, undertaking many night and weekend shifts on the infrastructure and employing industry best practise standards throughout his duties.

Mateusz has been keen to develop his understanding of the safety side of rail life, and is now competent to Lookout, COSS, ES, PC, SWL1 and SWL2 levels. Throughout his career to date he has shown dedication to learn the rules and regulations required to work safely on track. However for all of Mateusz’s theoretical knowledge, his real achievements have been evident where he has used that knowledge in the planning and undertaking of site works, where safety has always been at the forefront of his working practices.

As part of his application to the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors, Mateusz has been tasked with managing a track movement monitoring contract, whereby the cant and twist of track has been closely monitored as a UTX has been pushed beneath the infrastructure. Again employing his safety knowledge, Mateusz was able to design a monitoring system whereby members of staff were able to undertake monitoring works without setting foot on track, and provide accurate and regular results to give early warning of any potential hazardous movement in the rail position for the duration of the construction works. Additionally Mateusz has been an advocate of the close call system, regularly reporting close calls and following up on their outcome.

Mateusz is a dedicated and hard working individual, who has grown to become a real asset to the Bridgeway team from both a delivery and a safety perspective, and for these reasons I believe that he is a perfect candidate for the Rail Safety person of the Year Award.“