Andrew Martin

Said the following about Paul Heigh:

“Paul recognised an issue with a distinct lack of training courses within the Distribution & Plant team in Scotland which hindered the staff from pushing on to learn more about the equipment that they maintain and also a way of keeping staff competent in working with Signalling power supplies. He acquired a room within Newbridge relay room that was an un used space and turned it into a training room containing the below equipment:

650V IT Signalling Power Feeder in Legacy wiring giving staff the ability to carry out testing and Safe Isolation procedures.

230V IT Class II Signalling Power Feeder. He built this with the facility to put specific faults on that are common to SPS giving staff real life examples to work through.

Fault location test board to practise using specialist test equipment. He built a Domestic board with varied Circuits for staff to practise Electrical Installation testing and also Condition Reports.

Automatic Bypass Panel and UPS simulator. This gives staff confidence in carrying out switching procedures on real life equipment.

From this Paul sourced materials from previous jobs that were heading for the skip!!

Paul has gone out of his way and put a lot of time and effort into producing this dead space into a full test centre in a controlled environment to prepare all staff for the pressures of working competent and safely within a live railway environment. Paul has already had his first training day which staff were more than happy with the outcome and gave them more confidence with working on the equipment.

Various other departments across the UK have already shown an interest in coming to look at the test rig so this can be installed elsewhere across the UK for further training and Siemens has used it to create videos for safe isolation!

This shows the level of skill, commitment and effort Paul has put into this to upskill everyone around him with his knowledge which is why I think he deserves this award.“

Jake Love

Said the following about Paul Heigh:

“Paul has a passion and enthusiasm for the Distribution & Plant discipline that is unmatched. He is always keen to share his knowledge with others and looks to coach and mentor those at every possible opportunity.

Within the Scotland D&P world, he is always pushing and challenging to help upskill those that he works with on a daily basis.

Paul identified an opportunity to build a safe testing environment and utilised parts and equipment from areas that were being decommissioned and repurposed these to help with the ongoing process of maintaining staff competencies with the ability to put these skills into practice in the adjacent room on live equipment in a supervised manner. The frontline staff including apprentices have already recognised the benefit of this and are putting their new techniques into practice.

He has shared this testing environment with the supply chain and colleagues in other departments, whilst also willing to put on demonstrations.“

Iain McDougall

Said the following about Paul Heigh:

“Paul acknowledged the D&P need for staff training and has built a training facility for fixed plant technicians that will be the envy of other regions. It is fantastic for Scotland's railway to have individuals such as Paul who are proactive in staff development with an aim to provide an overall better track & train experience for our customers.“