I am amazed in today's world that doing any work on Railway property isn't regulated and checked? I am sure the Railway bods on this site will come up with a resolution, however I think your friend should start looking round for another job, this bullying manager will not change his attitude, if he is prepared to take risks on Railway property he will take risks anywhere!

I do not want to discuss the specifics, beyond stating that what you are describing, as well as being unacceptable morally, portrays a breach of Work at Height Regulations 2005 Regulation 5 - Every employer shall ensure that no person engages in any activity, including organisation, planning and supervision, in relation to work at height or work equipment for use in such work unless he is competent to do so or, if being trained, is supervised by a competent person. Any enforcing authority is likely to consider cautioning the supervisor and interviewing them for a breach of section 7 of HASWA. On the wider issue of reporting, there are several routes that the individual could take; Through the worksafe arrangement (which carries specific assurance of no comeback on individuals), in this case via the station manager; Union representative; Through CIRAS; or To a local ORR inspector (as it is an operational manager). If the situation is considered to present serious and imminent risk then they should cease work immediately and contact ORR as the enforcing authority - who do regulate this industry. Can I commend your colleague for his integrity and determination to do the right thing. Please contact me directly to discuss this issue in more detail.

On 1 April 2006, responsibility for health and safety policy and enforcement on the railways transferred from HSC/E to the Office of Rail Regulation.

I have spoken to the H&S officer of the company involved who have said that they will contact the manager. The H&S guy was saying he was aware of scaffold in use and the job was important, however he said he would contact the manager and resolve the issue. He will get back to me as well to let me know what he has done. I will post the response on here for future reference. The person is my son hence not wanting to get him the sack. He is only 21 but has the morals not to work unsafely. Thank you Ian for your telephone call, and everyone for your comments they are appreciated. Feel freee to keep posting

Final Update. I have had a call back from the company my son is working for. The H&S officer has contacted the on site manager to find out what the issues were. I have also contacted PASMA and a company called Ali Scaf who are the only PASMA approved centre for erecting scaffolds on staircases with advanced scaffold courses. The scaffolds are being erected by competent people with basic PASMA tickets, although they are deemed competent due to time served to erect the scaffold on the staircase. Ali scaff would only reccomend that an advanced certificate is present although PASMA stated that it would be nessesary. The company have sought advice from their own PASMA trainer and he has agreed that the scaffold can be erected by basic level scaffolders as the training is sufficient. A full apology from the site manager to my son has been given and assurance that this will not affect his employment. The manager is under pressure as he is running 5 jobs and this was just part of a bad day. Thank you all for your comments it was very useful.

Edited by moderator 22 November 2010 10:23:46(UTC)  | Reason: requested by Original Poster and third party

Make sure he is in a union: Management promises are worth as much as fog !