Training: cutting corners?

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,
A graphic showing a figure pointing to a blackboard in front of two students

Management seem to determine to cut corners with training on stations. Having already chipped away at it over the years, so that it's crammed into two days per year, they've now attacked it further - insisting that CSMs, rather than accredited trainers, deliver it, and they summon people from gatelines or control rooms to take tests, apparently with no prior warning.

This isn't "training", it's bureaucratic box-ticking... and a particularly bad version at that.

Regular, comprehensive refresher training is not only legally required to keep our licenses in date, it's essential to enable us to perform our jobs safely and well. This new scheme disadvantages both the "trainee" and the "trainer", and represents a further potential attack on jobs in the Skills & Development department.

Objections from unions secured some concessions, including a guarantee of at least seven days' notice and preparation time before any training involving a test, a guarantee that only people whose licenses were due to expire before the end of 2020 would be targeted for training, and a commitment that only CSMs who were accredited assessors would be used wherever possible.

Those guarantees improve matters somewhat, but the whole scheme is still slapdash corner cutting that will compromise standards.

LU says they're "keeping it under review": it needs to be scrapped.

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Comments

Submitted by Hugh Jarse (not verified) on Wed, 30/09/2020 - 14:55

I appreciate the difficulties around training at the moment.

However, when some kind of normality is restored, I think CSA1 training should encompass more practical training aswell and theoretical. After all, CSA1 licences include track competence (and always should).

Its definately worth spending the extra few quid to go back to having more practical refreshers for CSA 1's ability to quickly assist CSS/CSM on the track. This has the potential to save LUL even more money!

Its in everyones best interest and I feel under rhe tory/KPMG witch hunt we should preserve our skillset on the operational railway as best we can.

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