Health & Wellbeing Conference – 3 rd November 2015.

Merseyrail is an urban rail network operating on the Wirral and
Northern Lines within Merseyside.
It is one of the most punctual and reliable railway networks in the UK, with consistently high scores for customer satisfaction,
We run almost 800 trains per day and carry over 100,000 passengers on an average week day.
There are 66 stations on the network, four of which are underground in the city centre, giving easy access to work, study, shopping and leisure.

“Merseyrail’s greatest asset is our employees and good health is pivotal to every aspect of our lives.
It is vital that we all make the most of our time in work and that we are encouraged to achieve the very best work/life balance we can.”
Jane English
HR Director
Employee
Engagement
Employee
Health &
Wellbeing
Customer
Safety &
Wellbeing

• Occupational Health reliance for the vast majority of cases.
– Automatic referral
• Lack of empowerment by Line Managers
• High Cost to the business
• Failure / not obliged to diagnose the root cause in Occupational Health
• Lack of in depth detailed reports for Line Managers to move forward
• Delayed the process of achieving a suitable conclusion for the employees – difficulty moving forward

– Total Occupational Health referrals = 330
– Total Cost of Occupational Health = £140k
– Sickness levels at 3.76%
– Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD’s) were the biggest and most costly cause of sickness absence at Merseyrail
– Actual employee sickness of 9.09 days per person
– Engagement score 61%

The only obligation from a management or HR perspective is that safety medicals have to be approved by OH by the ORR.
High levels of
MSD cases
We did not feel we were getting value for money from Occupational
Health
Our employees also felt unsupported and remained absent for long periods.
Our Line Managers felt unsupported

• Held functional meetings with all Line Managers
– Identified their own personal frustrations.
– Identified areas where support was required.
• Undertook individual Case Reviews for all employee cases
– Agreed timelines with Line Managers to identify the steps required to support the employee returning to employment / or exiting the employee from the business.
• Introduced Sickness Steering Group
– Group of Senior Managers in the business meet on a two weekly basis to review all sickness cases to ensure consistency of approach was reached across all functions.
• Prioritising Sickness Cases
– HR provided support with Line Managers to prioritise key cases.
– Building a full timeline of evidence / sickness history to have a full picture of the employees sickness history.

Following a full and thorough review of all reasons for sickness we then began to identify a suite of suitable Occupational Health partners to help support the business with our key causes of sickness.
Connect Physiotherapy
– Provide a bespoke physiotherapy service located on site.
NOSS Counselling Service
– Mental Health
– Depression / Anxiety / Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Psychologist
– PTSD cases
• EMDR / CBT
• Bipolar/Obsessive Compulsive Disorder/Phobia
Independent GP
– Case review service
Mindfulness Service
– To help employee’s with stress
• Becoming more aware of our experience of our thoughts, feelings and body sensations

• 3 ‘on-site’ Clinics a week o Intrinsic Merseyrail job knowledge o Immediate referral, prompt assessment, accurate diagnosis & work specific treatment o Rehab & return to work programmes o Musculoskeletal workplace assessments
• Detailed management information o Employee reports o Company MSD trend analysis o Cost benefit reports (£4 saved for every £1 invested)
• Close working relationship with
Merseyrail OH, HR and H&S o Weekly HR and Operations meet o Line manager MSD training
• Proactive intervention o Ergonomic Assessments o Health Promotion o Functional Task Analysis

• Increased focus on MSD Prevention and
Health & Wellbeing
• Physio led Job / Role Specific Manual
Handling o Guards o Drivers o Engineers o Customer services
• MSK Screening / Physical ‘MOT’ o Capture and resolve unreported MSD o Identify and reduce MSD risk
• Health Promotion o Bespoke workplace exercise / stretching o Targeted campaigns based on trend analysis o Ergonomic Assessment of key business areas

Total Occupational Health referrals = 257 – down 73 (23%)
Total Cost of Occupational
Health = £101K – down 39K
Sickness levels at 3.14% down
18%
Actual employee sickness of 7.6 days per person down 1.49 days per person
Currently tracking at 40-60% monthly reduction in days lost to
MSD’ s
• Savings of £10-£15,000 per month
Engagement Score up 7% to 68%

“We have seen a large reduction in our sickness levels, which has led to an increase in engagement etc….
Feedback from both our employees and trade unions has been really positive from these changes, and we will continue to constantly review and enhance our suite of Occupational Health partners on an on going basis…”
Winner – Health & Wellbeing and Safety Award
Judges comments:-
“Merseyrail has taken a major initiative in addressing an aspect of safety that is rarely considered by others in the Rail industry. It is a member of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and Rail Safety and
Standards Board (RSSB) working groups and has worked constructively with other non railway organisations, and is the only train operating company to be awarded the NHS backed Wellbeing
Charter”