Making DOO safer in Western Australia

By John Miller

John Miller

I've just finished a shift at 2.30 am and I have three more to do this week. So I'm already showing signs of fatigue - irritability and feeling unsociable, periods of being alert and feeling fine, followed by a period of tiredness. I call it a "muzzy head".

Driver Only Operation started in our depot on March 16 this year. We have 21 Certified Agreement Drivers exclusively on DOO due to the maximum 8.5 hour rostered shift limit in their Certified Agreement.

Our hours are set by the Rail Regulator at 8 hours per shift plus an extra 50 minutes in an emergency. But we flatly refuse to do the extra 50 minutes unless there is a genuine emergency.

At the start there was a changeover time of two hours, but after a couple of weeks of parking cars out on the track, we had that changed to two-and-a-half hours to make sure we could get home in a reasonable way.

We also had problems with the S Class locomotive. Even though it was designed for DOO with a cab at each end, the Driver had problems trying to operate the right hand windscreen wiper and adjusting the right hand mirror.

The ARGE dispute settling procedure didn't resolve this problem, and we had to bring in Worksafe. They resolved the problem by issuing an "Improvement Notice" regarding the company's refusal to consult properly with its employees. This Notice applies to the company's entire Western Australian operation, not only our depot and our problem with the S Class locomotive.

Then we had a problem with the DB Class locomotive. It has a visibility problem to the right hand side of the track - the Driver loses vision for about 200 metres in front of the train.

We issued a log of claims on the company about that problem in the first week of July. It should go through the dispute resolution process.

End of Train Monitor

With DOO there is also the problem of knowing that the train is still complete, and an End of Train Monitor is a device we want installed. But management says, 'it's not mandatory, we won't do it'. These devices need maintenance otherwise they will fail, and if they are not working, then the train could not operate - so they just avoid it.

Under the current rules, we must check the end of train marker of an opposing train when we cross at a loop. To do this at night or in foggy weather we have to ensure the red marker lights are working and during some crossings this requires the train to be brought to a stand and the driver to leave his seat to cross the cab to visually confirm the train standing in the loop is complete, in accordance with the rules.

Management are happy to incur these delays rather than provide End of Train Monitors which could solve this problem.

We are aware that after the Whyalla iron ore train crash last year that ASR now uses End of Train Monitors. The Rail Regulator has required Pacific National to use End of Train Monitors in WA.

We believe that we should have the same operating conditions and cab conditions that are common practice in the rest of the industry.

Our trains vary in length between 39 and 51 wagons, and the wagons carry between 60 tonnes and 82 tonnes. So our trains can be up to 4,000 tonnes. We have good braking systems on these wagons and so we feel confident we can stop them, but they still take a while to stop.

At present we operate under a Certified Agreement with ARGE which is basically the old Award. I am one of three workplace delegates on the current EBA Negotiating Team. We have been working on this EBA for months, and it is going to make a big difference to our working conditions.

Our rate of pay is now the lowest in Australia because of our difficulty with the Court government's anti-union policies before 2001, and with ARGE since the privatisation of Westrail Freight.