Tram Operations Ltd leading the way in electronic competence management
The level of dynamic risk is greater on a tramway than in a heavy rail setting. Trams operate in both segregated and mixed traffic environments (for example city centres) and drivers find their trams regularly surrounded by pedestrians, cars, buses and bicycles. Each driver has to pass a rigorous selection, training and assessment process before they are allowed to drive a tram. As a result, safety is paramount.
Tram Operations Ltd knew they needed to upgrade their existing processes to evaluate driver performance and strengthen their risk controls and have adopted ACMS as their solution.
“It’s critical that our drivers are able to consistently make safe decisions, so we decided to take a risk-based approach that allows our drivers to develop their competence whilst demonstrating compliance to standards. We wanted to improve efficiency and visibility over our competence management arrangements to ensure the processes were slicker for both the candidate and the assessor. This would ultimately result in a much more cost-effective and (by eliminating the need for large paper-based files) environmentally responsible solution”. said Andy Wallace, Head of Safety, Tram Operations Ltd.
Tram Operations Ltd now have a better understanding of the level of competence across the whole organisation, which has highlighted the requirement to enhance assessor knowledge around the developmental approach to competence management. It has ultimately given the business a consistent approach to competence management, as individuals are tracked against an assessment plan with any support and development needs managed against their action plan, with support provided to candidates as required.