KELTBRAY Rail Plant has claimed to be the first company in the rail industry to install LED lights to all of its Road Rail Vehicles (RRV) working on Great Western in Wales.
The firm said it had made the move in order to implement “clear and identifiable exclusion zone areas around moving and stationery RRVs for improved safety”.
Keltbray Rail Plant carries out a lot of work at night-time, when exclusions zones can be difficult to maintain and installing physical barriers is not always possible. Keltbray said that by using the light system, operatives on the ground will be able to clearly identify where the exclustion zone begins. The firm has now decided to equip its fleet of 14 Colmar RRVs with the high-intensity blue lights.
Paul Murphy, Keltbray Rail’s operations director rail for Wales and Western said, “Keltbray Rail Plant’s piling delivery manager, Grant Fieldhouse, worked in partnership with construction manager for Network Rail, Justin Owens, to develop this solution. Where we operate heavy duty machinery, it is important to use clear safety signage to make people aware of dangerous equipment and the risk moving plant can pose to even the most experienced operatives. As we often work at night, signage is not always visible, and so we have adopted lighting to help operatives visualise the exclusion zone and reduce the risk of accidents.
“Grant and Justin had to find lights that have high vibration resistance to minimise downtime and the risk of lighting failure, and eventually found these in the USA, where they have been developed to protect factory staff working near moving forklifts. As a UK first, we have now fitted them to a Colmar T10000 heavy lifter RRV, which is working for Network Rail on piling works associated with electrification of the Great Western railway in Wales.
“These lights create exclusion zones of 10 metres to the side, back and front of the RRV are proving very effective. We are communicating this initiative through the on-site task and POS briefings and will be introducing this into all training plans for operators and staff.”
The lights will be extended to all the other RRVs in Keltbray Rail Plant’s fleet within the next six months.
