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A collection of articles featuring AssessTech
These articles were written by us, our customers, our suppliers, journalists and anyone else with something to say about AssessTech and our contribution to Competence Management for a Safer Railway.
Help us identify the common challenges and barriers to creating a safer railway in Australia and New Zealand
Reducing incidents and improving safety on the railway is a key driver for all passenger and freight railway operators. A reduction in incidents is strongly correlated to improvements in skills, competence, and confidence.
AssessTech attending AusRail PLUS
AssessTech will be attending the AusRail PLUS conference being held in Sydney from 28th February to 2nd March 2022.
Feedback on ACMS and AssessBook at our recent User Forum
We spoke to a few of you at the User Forum in November to find out how ACMS and AssessBook were improving your competence management processes and what developments you were looking forward to receiving.
2021 – AssessTech’s year in review
As 2021 draws to a close we wanted to highlight some of the new projects, new people and new customers from across the last 12 months.
Building a data rich digital infrastructure in the Middle East
Countries in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) are investing billions of US dollars in airports, sea ports, rail and other infrastructure in a bid to make the region a global transportation and logistics hub.
Leanne Hammond, Head of Learning and Development
We are delighted to announce that Leanne Hammond moves internally to take on the role of Head of L&D.
Rob Green joins us as Head of Operations
Rob Green joins us as Head of Operations managing our customer support team, overseeing day-to-day operations, support and customer issues.
Lumo choose AssessTech for Electronic Competence Management
Lumo is a recently launched rail service and have chosen AssessTech for their Electronic Competence Management.
AssessTech User Forum 2021 – Highlights & Livestream Videos
The focus this year was integration; how we better integrate AssessTech’s products with internal and external systems.
Eurostar’s use of ACMS and AssessBook for Engineering
Pip Stone from Eurostar speaks ahead of the User Forum on how they are using ACMS and AssessBook to manage competence within their engineering teams.
Greater Anglia – a smooth transition to paperless competence management
Greater Anglia - a smooth transition to paperless competence managementSenior Operations Standards Manager at Greater Anglia, Paul Atherfold provides an overview of the key elements of his upcoming User Forum talk on ‘paperless competence files’.This year’s User Forum...
RailTrain Pilots ACMS to Streamline Their Competence Management Processes
A recent collaboration with Railtrain Holdings Group has resulted in a pilot of our electronic competence management solution, ACMS within their New South Wales branch.
2021 AssessTech User Forum: Agenda and Speakers Announced
This year’s user forum will be a hybrid event taking place at The Woburn House Conference Centre in London. Register your place now.
Addressing skills shortages in Rail to Grow the Oak Trees of the Future
Skills shortages amongst train drivers in Australia and New Zealand is a huge problem.
Instructor Award boosts training delivery skills
There’s always a need for individuals on the railway to receive training and support to help them deliver learning to groups or individuals.
AssessBook enabled GWR to reduce skills fade during lockdown
One of the areas where we are seeing significant benefit is around the area of Virtual courses and e-Learning.
Lead Verifier Qualification
Arriva Rail London’s Ryan Dearlove qualifies as a Lead Verifier A first for AssessTech as Arriva Rail London’s Ryan Dearlove qualifies as a City and Guilds Level 4 Lead Verifier.As the Operations Development Manager for Arriva Rail London, Ryan Dearlove, who has...
Quality Driven Electronic Competence Management Solution for Govia Thameslink Railway
GTR had been facing some significant challenges around competence management. One of the biggest challenges the company faced was that there was a single over-arching competency management standard across the four operators but different legacy electronic systems to deliver this …
AssessTech User Forum: 18th November: REGISTER NOW
The AssessTech User Forum returns this year on Thursday 18th November as a hybrid event taking place in the Woburn Conference Centre, London.
Registration is now open!
A Blended Learning approach to TOLO & SIO training
Train Operator Liaison Officers (TOLO) and Station Incident Officers (SIO) deal with multiple elements around an incident and as such require in-depth training. How they respond is critical to the organisations’ reputation.
Can you ‘street to seat’ a freight driver in Australia?
New freight train drivers in Australia face multiple challenges during their training. There is a huge difference between driving passenger v’s freight trains.
Gary Howitt achieves a Level 4 Diploma in Learning and Development
Learning and Development Consultant Gary Howitt has recently been awarded a Level 4 Diploma in L&D through City and Guilds.
Heathrow Rail – Reducing Incidents through Competence Management
Minimising incidents is one of the biggest targets in the rail industry. Having a robust competence management system is paramount.
Heathrow Rail enjoying a blended learning experience using AssessBook
A recent case study has been published by our LMS partner, Totara Learn exploring the benefits of their technology as part of the AssessTech product suite, for Heathrow Rail.
Internal Quality Assurance Award monitors assessor performance
The Internal Quality Assurance Award (IQA) is aimed at individuals within an organisation who are responsible for planning managing and/or verifying assessors.
Investigation Training helps individual’s complete investigations to a high standard
Understanding the underlying causes of incidents is essential in reducing operational incidents. Carrying out thorough investigations is essential to make proper recommendations and robust, fit for purpose individual support plans.
ACMS 5.2.3 is here!
Recent improvements have been made to ACMS to boost data integrity, enhanced assessment module and better user experience.
Behind the Scenes… Customer Operations Team
The customer operations team at AssessTech has changed over the last few months, so we wanted to introduce you to our new colleagues.
IRO Webinar : Competence Management on the Railway in Australia and New Zealand
Wed, Apr 7, 2021 5:00pm AEST – 8:00am UK time.
Rail Training and Operational Consultant Graham Force and Competence Management and Incident Investigation expert Gabriel Stroud have been invited by the Institute of Railway Operators (IRO) to host a webinar on 7th April.
Keeping the Railway Safe with AssessTech’s Assessor Award Training Course
Many individuals across the railway undertake assessments from maintenance staff, to guards and drivers. The level of knowledge across these individuals can vary significantly.
Gary Howitt qualifies as internal auditor for the ISO 27001 standard
We are delighted to announce that Gary Howitt, one of our learning and development experts is now a qualified internal auditor for management systems and can assess how organisations manage their electronic data security and processes.
Totara Platinum Alliance Partner award
We are delighted to announce that we have recently become a Totara Platinum Alliance Partner, making our online learning management solution, AssessBook, even better!
Non-Technical Skills Training Designed for Assessors
In the assessing world, the impact of non-technical skills (NTS) can be exposed when exploring safety improvements and reducing incidents. These NTS include an individual’s abilities to carry out a task, personality, interpersonal skills and motivations, which all have a strong correlation to their technical skills.
Electronic Competence Management for the Middle East
The railway industry in the Middle East is a fledgling market. Competence Management is evolving in the region. The Passenger Transport Authority, who provides the regulatory framework, stipulate that the management of competence is a fundamental requirement in obtaining a license to run these services.
Hannah Washer takes on the role of Account Manager for UK and Europe
Hannah Washer takes on the role of Account Manager for UK and EuropeAs we enter 2021, we are delighted to announce that Hannah Washer has been promoted to the role of Sales and Account Manager for UK and Europe. Hannah will work alongside Sally Brinkley to service...
Game Changing Investigation Training
We have recently introduced a new training course aimed at individuals who undertake the role of Designated Competent Person (DCP) for incidents and accidents within the railway industry.
2020, AssessTech’s year in review
2020….well what can we say. Who would have predicted that we were entering a year of economic turmoil with one of the worst pandemic’s the world has ever seen.
Even with all the challenges that we faced in 2020, we have had a very busy year.
Atalian Servest contracts AssessTech’s expertise to develop a competence management and training plan and roadmap
Having been awarded the LNER contract at the back end of 2019, Atalian Servest, a global facilities management company, made commitments to provide a training strategy geared at improving both operational delivery and safety.
MTR Elizabeth Line choose AssessTech to shape their competence management processes
MTR Elizabeth Line is a brand new overground and underground railway that will connect London City, Canary Wharf, the West End and Heathrow Airport to commuter areas east and west of London. They recently appointed AssessTech as a new competence management provider to help them create an exemplary model of their business, within learning and development.
South Western Railway move eCMS to AssessTech
SWR had been using a competitor platform to manage their competence for a number of years and decided to move to AssessTech’s ACMS solution as it offered more options that met all their business requirements.
Improve competence management in Australia and New Zealand
Freight, passenger and light rail operators across Australia and NZ have yet to be introduced to the benefits of electronic competence management and the transformation it can make to systems, processes and the overall assessment of staff.
Opening a NEW Australian office
This month sees us opening a new office in Brisbane, Australia. The decision to open this office is an example of our commitment to further enhance the safety of the rail industry by introducing the benefit of electronic developmental competence management to the APAC region.
Industry Best Practice Leader Harsco are leading the way with the adoption of electronic competence management
Harsco Rail were previously using paper-based assessment processes to record competence levels which was extremely resource intensive, old fashioned and open to potential human error.
Developmental Competence Management in the ‘new normal’ world
In a previous blog we’ve explored Developmental Competence Management, this is now more important than ever.
What will the ‘new normal’ look like for AssessTech as we come out of #Lockdown?
On March 23rd 2020 the UK changed. As the Coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, businesses were at a standstill wondering what the future would look like for them.
AssessTech Knowledge Base
Our new Knowledge Base is live!
Supporting 85% of the UK rail network
We carried out some research recently as we were curious about how much of the UK rail network we support through our training and technology solutions. We are delighted to report that we currently work with 85% of the UK’s rail network.
AssessTech’s technology solutions improving processes during #UKLockdown
Social distancing has created a huge range of challenges for business across all industries. However, in the railway industry we’ve seen our clients pivot quickly to embrace technology which is yielding improved results in terms of process improvement and efficiencies.
Eurostar switches electronic competence management to AssessTech
Eurostar recently implemented ACMS, having previously used an alternative electronic competence management system since 2013.
Dealing with the impossible in times of #UKLockdown
It has been interesting delivering the ‘almost impossible’ training courses this week. We recently used our Incident Recovery Kit simulation game in a virtual SIO training course for MTREL.
Taking the ‘Impossible’ Training Online
Sally Brinkley was very pleased to be asked to speak at the latest accessplanit Webinar.
With this brave new world of social distancing, at AssessTech we have had to face up to some interesting challenges to move all of our training online. Some of this was impossible, or so we were told…
Dealing with increased incidents during a green light railway
With passenger numbers estimated to drop by 70% during times of social distancing there’s huge pressure being put on the UK rail industry to keep running. We are experiencing less trains and it’s assumed that this would make the railway safer. However, this might not be the case…
Opening up people’s eyes to new training methods
As you will have read in our previous blog, we have moved all our training to video conferencing as most of our candidates are now working from home. The online training is going so well, we may even consider maintaining it as a permanent option alongside classroom training after we return to normal.
Moving all our training online to keep you safe
As one of the UK’s leading training partners to the UK rail industry we understand how important it is for the safety of your staff, customers and the railway to maintain staff training and assessments.
We’d like to think we’re pretty innovative in our thinking, so as a result of the Coronavirus live event ban, we quickly moved all our training courses to interactive video conferencing this week.
Keeping your social distance doesn’t mean abandoning your training activities
At AssessTech, we’re always looking for innovative ways to keep our customers businesses operating efficiently and safely and with the COVID19 pandemic, we now more than ever need to think differently.
CrossCountry Trains have adopted a developmental competence management approach for their staff
The Control department had previously encountered challenges to maintain the competence management processes within their team. Duty Managers were tasked with the role of staff assessment and they were too busy with their day job and grappling with the vast amount of paperwork and lack of time, that there were few real meaningful assessments being carried out.
AssessBook integrates with accessplanit
AssessBook integrates with accessplanit’s software to create a smooth, automated competence record.
National Express Germany choose AssessTech as their preferred supplier of electronic competence management
The company had an internal requirement to streamline their reporting and improve compliance, so Head of Safety Daniel Preis was tasked with finding a solution. Having looked at various solutions in the industry, Preis chose AssessTech’s electronic competence management solution ACMS as their preferred platform.
Working Towards ISO 27001
As part of our ongoing commitment to customers, and to enhance business continuity, we are currently working towards securing the ISO 27001 accreditation in early 2020.
Investment in the rail infrastructure in the US opens up lots of new potential opportunities
CEO at AssessTech Gabriel Stroud recently visited Los Angeles to attend Smart Transit, an event hosted in Los Angeles looking at how digitalization and technology is revolutionizing transit in the US, from enhanced analytics technologies to real-time passenger information systems. Rail will become the next big area of infrastructure investment for the US.
Highlights from the 2019 User Forum
This year’s User Forum provided an excellent overview of the enhancements planned and delivered for ACMS, AssessBook and AssessTube over the last year as well as focusing on the new system features, Forms and the Check Module.
User Forum 2019
2019 User Forum focuses on new features, new themes and new platforms.
Our User Forums provide competence management professionals, across heavy and light rail, an opportunity to get together to find out about developments in AssessTech’s range of products, give feedback on their experiences, discuss industry challenges and share best practice.
Tram Operations Ltd leading the way in electronic competence management
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.
Developmental Competence explained at UKLRC 2019
AssessTech explained why developmental competence management is crucial for light rail at this year’s UK Light Rail Conference.
Developmental Competence for Light Rail at the UK Light Rail Conference
As the industry’s leading annual congress and exhibition, the UK Light Rail Conference taking place in Manchester on 23 and 24 July brings together over 250 tramway, light rail and metro professionals. AssessTech’s operations director Sally Brinkley is amongst the 55 speakers and panellists.
AssessTech’s User Forums – What to Expect
The next AssessTech user forum will take place on 18 Sept in Woburn Conference Centre, London. We spoke to Naheem Manir of West Midland Trains to find out his thoughts on the forums.
Southeastern Railway moved to electronic competence management
When paper-based assessments started to become highly inefficient and gaps started to appear in the assessment process, Southeastern Railway decided to adopt an electronic competence management process.
Focus on safety at EU Light Rail Conference
The recent EU Light Rail Conference which took part in Brussels on 16th and 17th May attracted decision makers and industry influencers from across the light rail and tramway systems industry and one of the key themes discussed this year was the role of technology in safety management.
EU Light Rail Conference 2019
Sally Brinkley is speaking at this year’s EU Light Rail Conference on Developmental Competence in Light Rail.
Best Railway Technology and Training Consultancy 2019 AWARD
We are delighted to have been awarded the Best Railway Technology and Training Consultancy in the 2019 Transport Awards, organised by SME News.
Behind the scenes… Training Team
The third in our Behind the Scenes blogs introduces you to the learning and development team at AssessTech who have the role of ensuring that Assessors, IQAs, Instructors, Trainers and Candidates are all up-to-date in their training and competence requirements.
ACMS is Really Helping at Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia have reduced their competence assessment administration by 50% by switching to electronic competence.
AssessTech Joins RSSB
AssessTech are really pleased to announce that we became members of the RSSB this week.
Individuals at c2c take full control of their own learning
Individuals at c2c take full control of their own learningc2c, owned by Italian operator Trenitalia, were the pioneers of ACMS in 2010. As a business reliant on a paper based CMS, like most other TOCs at the time, the business struggled with challenges around...
Behind the Scenes… Development Team
This is the second of our Behind the Scenes blogs and this month we introduce you to the developers who have the mammoth task of creating new pieces of software and new features to keep our customers happy, as well as fixing bugs and upgrading the software performance.
Heathrow Express staff migration to GWR was a smooth process thanks to ACMS
The recent migration of train operations staff from Heathrow Express (HEx) to GWR caused a few issues. However, by using AssessTech’s ACMS platform the transition of staff competence records was a smooth process, maintaining all existing data sets and systems intact.
AssesTech’s Round-up of 2018
ROUND-UP OF 2018 2018 has been a busy year for AssessTech. We’ve managed the electronic transfer of competence records from HEX to GWR to support employee migration, the adoption of competence management within light rail via Tram Operations Ltd, a stronger focus on...
User Forum 2018
USER FORUM 2018 The Assesstech User Forum, held on the 19th September 2018 in central London, brought together a wide range of competence management experts to find out about new developments in AssessTech products, share experience and industry best practice, raise...
Incident Recovery Kit – A Tabletop Simulation
The Incident Recovery Kit is an interaction tabletop simulation, played in the style of a board game. It’s been developed, By AssessTech, as a training aid for roles such as TOLO, SIO and RIC
Developmental Competence Management
Developmental Competence ManagementWhat is it? And why is it extremely important now that staff are working remotely? Developmental Competence Management is all about putting the candidate front and centre of the process, focussing on their needs and encouraging them...
Fatigue and Fitness Management – Be Proactive!
Reduce Incidents and save time by being proactive about Fatigue and Fitness management.
From Robots to Competence Management Systems…
Gabriel Stroud, a man well known as the team captain and weapon operator for his fighting robot ‘Tanshe’ on This is Fighting Robots, and Sabre Tooth on Robot Wars in the UK, is also the inspiration behind ACMS, AssessTech’s electronic competence management system…
AssessTech User Forum: Date Announced
Our next User Forum is scheduled for Wednesday, 19th September 2019 in Central London. Contact us for an invitation…
Rail Professional Article: Reducing Incidents through Competence Management
AssessTech’s ethos is that competence management lowers business risk and reduces incident rates through targeted training and development of people. One of their clients, Heathrow Express has done just that. They reduced incidents from 25 in a two year period to just 2, here’s how…
