GB Railfreight launches ‘Work Safe = Home Safe’ campaign as part of 25th anniversary year

Launched during GBRf’s 25th anniversary year, the campaign is designed to strengthen the company’s safety culture and encourage colleagues across the business to put safety first in every decision they make.

The campaign brings together safety communications under a single banner and highlights the investments, innovations and improvements that continue to make GBRf a safer place to work.

Work Safe = Home Safe will also showcase the work GBRf colleagues undertake within local communities to promote rail safety awareness and educate young people about the dangers associated with the railway.

The campaign recognises that there is no single solution to improving safety. Instead, it is built on the principle that continual improvement and the accumulation of small changes can make a significant difference.

Since 2020, GBRf has invested in excess of £22m in a wide range of initiatives designed to improve safety, wellbeing and working conditions for colleagues.

These include:
• Enhanced safe walking routes across operational sites
• Improved lighting at key locations
• Installation of new switch stands
• Upgraded welfare and staff facilities
• The fleet-wide retrofit of air conditioning to all Class 66 and 69 locomotive cabs
• Trials of new safety equipment and technologies, including enhanced gloves and sanding systems
• The introduction of the new Class 99 locomotives, which incorporate significant safety improvements and modern design features
• Building a new locomotive maintenance facility in Tonbridge reducing the amount of road and rail miles needed to maintain our c.150 locomotives
• Constructing a state-of-the-art wagon maintenance facility, in Peterborough that will move to a condition-based monitoring model that will reduce downtime, improve reliability and have lasting safety benefits

The campaign will also highlight the work GBRf colleagues undertake within local communities, including school visits that promote rail safety awareness and help educate young people about the dangers associated with the railway.

At its heart, Work Safe = Home Safe is about recognising that every colleague has family, friends and loved ones waiting for them at the end of the day.
The campaign seeks to reinforce a simple message that nothing is more important than ensuring everyone returns home safely after every shift.

John Smith OBE, Chief Executive Officer of GB Railfreight, said:

“As we celebrate 25 years of GB Railfreight and reflect on how far we’ve come as a business, there is one thing that matters more than any commercial success, operational achievement or growth milestone – the safety of our people.
“Every person who works for GBRf has people who care about them and who expect them to return home safely at the end of every shift. We have a responsibility to them, to their families and to the wider railway community.
“Work Safe = Home Safe is to remind us all that safety is never finished. There is always more we can do, and often it is the small improvements and the everyday decisions that have the biggest impact.
“Because at the end of the day, nothing is more important than making sure we all get home safely.”