Concerns over Health & Safety cause problems for volunteers working at stations

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Daily Mail:

Elf 'n' safety blights railway garden as WI are told 'you have to complete a risk assessment'

For more than a quarter of a century, members of the Bucknell Women^s Institute have kept their village railway station in a state of floral splendour.
They have planted bulbs, bedding plants, roses and shrubs along the railway side to provide a colourful welcome to visitors. In 1992 they even won a Wales in Bloom award.
But these days the little station in Shropshire is a fading shadow of its former glory after health and safety bosses clamped down on the WI^s efforts.
The 32 women volunteers have never had an accident in the 26 years they have tended to the garden.
But Network Rail has ordered the WI to complete a risk assessment, arrange insurance and sign a five-page licence that would restrict their activities.
They have also been told their garden has to be fenced off from the line and they will have to have safety training. Yet only eight trains a day use the station, which is on the route between Swansea and Shrewsbury. And even when the trains are passing through, they^re usually doing about 2mph because of a nearby level crossing.
Beryl Starr, 62, president of the village^s WI, said: ^As far as we^re concerned, it came out of the blue. This has been a source of pride to the local community and provides a pleasing introduction to visitors. We^ve planted bulbs and put up hanging baskets. One of our members, Sheila Chase, was among the group who first started on the garden 26 years ago. She is 90 now and she still helps.
^Members were amazed to hear this autumn that we are banned from accessing the garden because of these over-the-top interventions by the Network Rail Safety Inspectorate. We^re all angry and it^s very frustrating to see all your work over the years go to waste. We^re not going to put our lives at risk by running on the track or anything like that. We are law-abiding citizens and we^re not going to compromise our safety.
^And in any case, the trains don^t get above 2mph when they pass through here because its a single-track tourist route with an open-gated crossing.^
The garden has now been left untended, much to the frustration of the WI members, who had been pruning, weeding and planting the spot all year round.
^It looks really messy now, it^s a real shame to see all your hard work go to waste,^ added Mrs Starr. ^David Cameron has been talking about the big society and getting involved in community activities - but now we can^t.^
Mavis Choong, Network Rail media relations manager, said the company took safety matters very seriously and insisted its intentions had been misunderstood by the WI. She said: ^Our aim is provide a secure and safe working zone for them and this is part of a guideline to facilitate community groups in carrying out their activities on railway land. This guideline is widely practised by around 40 community groups, including WI groups in Norfolk, and we cover some groups with insurance if they do not have their own.
^Network Rail takes safety matters very seriously and it will be wrong to compromise or wait for tragedy to happen before we act.^
Bucknell railway station opened in 1861 and is located near the centre of the village.
There are four passenger trains a day in each direction, running between Shrewsbury and Swansea, from Monday to Saturday, and two services on Sundays.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Another article covering this story, from the Telegraph:

Health and safety rules put pitchfork into Women's Institute's railway garden

Volunteers in a Shropshire village have been told to stop tending a railway garden because they are breaching health and safety regulations.

For 20 years, they have carefully tended a garden at the local railway station, ensuring that their pretty village shows its best side to visitors arriving by train.
But now, members of the Women's Institute in Bucknell, Shropshire, have been told to down tools by Network Rail due to health and safety rules.
Despite having a licence to tend the garden on a disused platform, railway inspectors told them their activity was unsafe.
Now the potting and pruning is on hold while the group negotiate their way through a maze of health and safety regulations.
Beryl Starr, president of the WI, said: "As far as we are concerned, it came out of the blue. For the last 20 years, Bucknell WI has planted, developed and maintained a garden on the disused platform at Bucknell station. This has been a source of pride to the local community and provides a pleasing introduction to visitors arriving via the Heart of Wales line. We've planted bulbs and put up hanging baskets. One of our members, Sheila Chase, is 90 and she still helps. Members were amazed to hear that we are banned from accessing the garden because of interventions by the safety inspectorate."
She said the group had been told members could continue to work on the garden after it had been fenced off from the line. They must then complete a risk assessment, arrange insurance and sign a five-page licence that would restrict their activities.
Network Rail, which owns the ground and is imposing the safety measures, said: "Our aim is to provide a secure and safe working zone for them and this is part of a guideline to facilitate community groups in carrying out their activities on railway land. This guideline is widely practised by around 40 community groups, including WI groups in Norfolk, and we cover some groups with insurance if they do not have their own.
"Network Rail takes safety matters very seriously and it will be wrong to compromise or wait for tragedy to happen before we act."

Sorry if I rather appear to have 'got a bee in my bonnet' over this subject.  We in the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership (and our colleagues in the Heart of Wessex CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership)) have also found that we are up against an apparent 'Health & Safety Stonewall', in our attempts to just do a bit of gardening in the station flower beds at Westbury ... and Melksham. 

Chris. 

By the way: there is an interesting comment on their website, from 'Rifleman1853', in response to that Telegraph article - well worth a read, I think!