SOCOTEC Occupational Hygiene volunteer works for Great Central Railways
Three SOCOTEC UK & Ireland occupational hygienists (OH) used their volunteer days to monitor works at Great Central Railway’s (GCR) Rothley and Loughborough depots.
Due to GCR’s status as a charity, SOCOTEC completed the occupational hygiene monitoring works for a significantly reduced cost, with three experts attending the sites as volunteer work over two days.
SOCOTEC UK & Ireland offers its employees two voluntary days per year, as part of its extensive wellbeing package, with the trio of OH staff coming together to support a much-needed service for the country’s railway heritage.
GCR carries out restoration and heritage work on its fleet of locomotives and carriages, as well as a fleet of around 100 wagons. There are currently 30 carriages in its operating fleet, with several more in varying stages of restoration.
The Engineering Department conducts heavy engineering, fabrication, joinery, painting, plumbing, and electrical works to restore the vehicles at Loughborough and Rothley. During SOCOTEC’s visit, the team of staff and volunteers were working on several locomotives and carriages, including one from 1937 and two from the 1950s.
The SOCOTEC team were fantastic, genuinely such a nice bunch, and they interacted brilliantly with our volunteers. They understood exactly what we needed and were incredibly flexible and helpful throughout.
They've helped us enormously to meet our health and safety obligations to protect our workforce from some of the ill-health effects of the processes and activities associated with their work, and we can't thank them enough.
SOCOTEC’s volunteer team of occupational hygienists carried out air, vibration, and noise monitoring while GCR’s tools and machinery were in use to ensure the workers were not exposed to harmful levels of loud sounds, substances in the air, or persistent vibration, and to suggest possible changes to the equipment and working practices to protect the health of the workers and volunteers.
Rowan Clay, SOCOTEC’s Occupational Hygiene Team Leader, performed vibration monitoring using a vibration meter to measure the magnitude of vibrations produced by tools. This was used to calculate how long the tool can be safely operated to prevent health issues such as hand arm vibration syndrome.
Helen Emerson, Occupational Hygienist at SOCOTEC, carried out noise monitoring using wearable dosimeters attached to staff using the tools and machinery for continuous noise monitoring, supplemented by a handheld sound level meter for short term noise monitoring of specific tasks. This allows GCR to decide what mitigation is needed in order to prevent hearing loss from the sustained loud noises, as well as assessing the effect of peak/impact noises that can cause instant hearing loss.
Dannii Richards, Occupational Hygiene Technologist at SOCOTEC, conducted air monitoring to assess levels of dusts, weld fume, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This monitoring also included wearable air monitoring devices attached to workers, alongside a handheld VOC monitor to measure real-time dust levels. This was accompanied by observation of tasks, working practices, and control measures used by employees and volunteers for the team to suggest improvements to existing local exhaust ventilation and respiratory protection, where required to prevent health issues, as well as advice on general control measures.
SOCOTEC is happy to continue the relationship with Great Central Railway. It was a great opportunity to make use of our volunteer days and provide important occupational hygiene surveys for a notable heritage charity within the rail industry.
It was a pleasure to work with Devon again and to support Great Central Railway through SOCOTEC’s volunteer programme, enabling SOCOTECs Occupational Hygiene and Environmental science laboratory teams to give back and make a positive contribution.
Also, as a rail geek, I believe the UK’s heritage railways are incredibly important for preserving our rich railway history and ensuring future generations can experience and appreciate our railway heritage.
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