The reporter has raised a safety concern in relation to the currency of medical health assessments required for Rail Safety Workers.
The reporter states [Operator] require all Rail Safety Workers (RSW) to hold a valid medical health assessment as a condition of their employment. The reporter understands RSWs under the age of 50 require a medical health assessment every 5 years and for RSWs over the age of 50, every 2 years.
The reporter states they are over the age of 50 and their last medical health assessment was five years ago.
The reporter queries if [Operator] management track the medical health assessment status/validity of all RSWs? The reporter further queries why reminders an/or requests for required medical health assessments are not communicated to RSWs to ensure compliance as per conditions of employment?
The reporter states they believe there are a number of RSWs employed with potentially lapsed medical health assessments and is further concerned about the risk of a serious incident occurring as a result.
The reporter advised they have not raised this concern with [Operator] management for fear of potential negative repercussions.
Since the commencement of operations, [Operator] [Location] has effectively managed and overseen the medical assessments of our personnel. Our processes have consistently passed multiple audits and inspections without any issues.
Considering the recent complaint, we conducted a thorough review of our medical database over the past 24 hours. During this review, we identified two discrepancies related to the incorrect entry of information at the outset of two individuals' employment. These discrepancies impacted their reassessment dates. We promptly addressed this issue on [date], and the necessary medical activations have been initiated.
No additional issues have been found during our review. We confirm that the database rules are fully aligned with the relevant conditions and requirements for medical assessments.
Regarding the reminders and/or requests for required medical health assessments, the following established processes are in place:
The designated medical health provider contacts the RSW directly to book an appointment prior to the expiry date. This typically occurs 3-4 weeks prior to the expiry date. This communication is initially by phone, and then via follow-up SMS with a link allowing the RSW to book the medical assessment in directly with the provider.
The employee RSW card expiry date is aligned to the medical health assessments enabling the RSW to see when the upcoming medical assessment is due.
This matter has been discussed in detail with our safety group during a meeting convened on [date].
ONRSR confirms it received ATSB REPCON report number RR2024-00025, regarding currency of medical health assessments for rail safety workers. ONRSR has reviewed the reporter’s concerns and operator’s response. ONRSR understands the issue has been rectified and ONRSR is satisfied with the operator’s response.