Power Generation

ALSTOM Power Turbo Systems

The Problem

ALSTOM Power, the global specialist in transport and power infrastructure, needed a comprehensive training programme that met the specific needs of their staff, despite the fact that they were based all over the world and that the level of health, safety and environmental knowledge they required differed between groups of staff.

The training needed to perform two important functions – increase the awareness of health and safety issues of all the participants, but also, crucially, have a physical impact on ALSTOM's accident and incident rates.

Glynn Carty, Head of Environmental, Health and Safety, Plant Business at ALSTOM Power-Turbo Systems had studied for his own NEBOSH Diploma with RRC Training and had experienced the high level of training on offer for himself and so approached RRC Training to develop the course his staff needed.

The Solution

In close partnership with ALSTOM Power, RRC Training developed a bespoke three-tier programme that worked to meet the individual issues faced within ALSTOM.

The course was designed to incorporate international standards to ensure that all ALSTOM staff, irrespective of their global location, were able to study the same programme, ensuring a consistent knowledge base across the whole company.

ALSTOM's own internal procedures and policies were integrated within the course itself, ensuring that participants learnt not only generic principles of best practice, but also how these related to their own daily working lives.

RRC ensured that the course was available to study by both e-learning and distance learning. The e-learning option allowed students across all continents to study the programme in tandem, building up relationships that lasted well beyond the end of the course. But the distance learning option ensured that employees in far-flung parts of the world, often with erratic or unreliable internet connections, were not excluded.

To ensure that all staff at ALSTOM could complete the same core course, the programme was split into 3 tiers. The Introductory tier has been designed as the perfect introduction to basic issues of health, safety and the environment for all staff, and ALSTOM now use this as part of their basic induction for all new staff. The remainder of the course is split up into Intermediate and Advanced tiers, allowing managers to ensure that their staff are trained up to the level required for their own individual roles.

The Result

Data compiled by ALSTOM has shown that in the last 24 months, the number of lost time injuries has fallen by almost half, from over 70 in the previous period to under 40 since the RRC training programme was launched in May 2003.

The Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) has also dropped from 3.1 to 1.75 lost time injuries per 1,000,000 hours worked. This now makes it well below the HSE's National UK All Construction rate and the LTI rate of the Engineering Construction Industry Association.

To date, ALSTOM has trained over 90% of its staff to the appropriate level on the RRC/ALSTOM EHS Elevator Training programme and intends to continue the programme into the future.

Click here to go to the RRC Key to Safety programme