Check The Drivers!
We are all aware that recently there has been much public disquiet about the State Rail system. In Parliament, the minister of Transport, the Hon. Michael Costa, a former railway driver himself, has been under constant attack. To his credit, he responds rapidly and has improved the State Rail performance and cleanliness.
But I have been concerned about the performance of the rail drivers and this week, based upon material I had acquired from someone with first hand knowledge not obtained from a newspaper report, asked the minister what I thought were very important questions:
“I ask the Minister for Transport Services a question without notice. Is the Minister aware that the special commission of inquiry into the Waterfall train disaster has been told that a psychological screening process commissioned by the State Rail Authority [SRA] has revealed that 20 per cent of train drivers have a mental disorder and approximately 4 per cent are so severely mentally impaired that they should not be driving trains, as determined by an experienced occupational physician and psychiatrist? Is the Minister aware that this screening program was conducted nearly three years ago with the full endorsement and participation of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, which subsequently endorsed the screening process for all medical examinations of its members? Finally, is the Minister aware that the SRA management committed to immediately implement this program into all medical examinations and that nothing subsequently has been done to implement this process?”
Those are extremely important questions. A train last week, carrying five hundred school children with defective brakes, was told to continue on another eight stations before the passengers were disembarked. As people complained, that could have been a tragedy. But what if the driver had been mentally unfit to drive? Could that not have been an equally bad disaster?
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA replied to my question: “I am certainly aware of newspaper reports to the effect outlined by the honourable member. It is appropriate government policy not to comment on matters before the inquiry into the Waterfall train disaster. It is appropriate that we allow the commission to have its deliberations and consider all expert evidence.
In relation to psychometric testing, State Rail currently requires employees to undertake pre-employment assessments for functional, medical and psychological ability to perform work safely. I am advised that the psychometric tests are specifically designed for the rail industry and are common to railways around the world. In addition to that being undertaken, recruitment testing and counselling are also undertaken post-incident for any affected crew or when a supervisor is concerned about somebody’s behaviour.
Drivers are routinely assessed by supervisors, both on and off driving duties. In addition, every 16 weeks drivers are taken off driving duties for structured training assessment. Staff are also required to undergo medical assessments at specified intervals unless the doctor recommends a more frequent assessment due to the presence of a medical condition.”
The minister had not answered my question about the mental fitness of drivers, and about why nothing has been done for the past three years when the SRA and the AFULE have agreed that closer attention to the medical and mental fitness of drivers should be given.
So I persevered: “I ask a supplementary question. Is the Minister aware that as a consequence of non-activity because of the inquiry, currently 1 in every 25 trains is being driven by a driver with a mental disorder?”
Now that is a serious matter! I would expect the minister to take some action on that. At least he could assure the public that drivers already found unfit for driving, would be re-allocated to other duties.
But the minister replied: “As I have already indicated, that report is a number of years old. My advice is that procedures are in place for pre-employment assessments of all new drivers. Certainly, State Rail is in the process of discussing with the Victorian Department of Infrastructure a new regime for medical assessment of all our drivers.”
I was not talking about pre-employment medical and mental health checks, I was talking about continued employment of drivers with existing mental conditions that should preclude them from driving.
The fact of the matter is that train drivers have hundreds of lives in their hands, and a significant number have, upon independent medical and psychiatric testing have been declared unfit for work. Why are they still working? Until this matter is cleared, I suggest you avoid every twentyfifth train!
This is GORDON MOYES.
