CPA Bulletin

54 CPA Bulletin > May 2020 www.cpa.uk.net rail plant association RAIL PLANT ASSOCIATION: 1 One of the single most important events in the calendar for members of the Rail Plant Association is the Annual General meeting which this year took place on 26 February at Nuthurst Grange in the West Midlands. This year the weather was kind to us, sandwiched between storm Dennis and storm Jorge and the turnout was good in number but also included many of the movers and shakers of our industry. Prior to the Annual general meeting, the RPA Board of Directors met as they do each year to discuss overall strategy and ensure that the Association is working as originally anticipated for the benefit of the members. Unfortunately the directors also had to accept the resignation of Paul Saddington, a previous chair of the Association, who has moved on to different pastures. His contribution was noted and it was hoped that Paul may come back to the fold in the future. AGM The Annual General Meeting commenced with the election of a new committee and this year we were pleased to welcome two new members who have volunteered to join with us for the greater good. They are Ian Morgan who was known to many of us when he was at STE in Network Rail and Liam Ledger. With Paul Milner having moved on from his position in VolkerRail to become Managing Director of Matisa UK, the new committee now looks like this; • Paul Helks A P Webb Plant Hire • Jim Nabarro Balfour Beatty • Ian Morgan McCulloch Rail • Graham Pirson Quattro Plant • Darren Matthews Ready Power Rail Services • Liam Ledger SPL Powerlines • David Richardson Stobart Rail & Civils • Steve Wadham Total Rail Solutions • Richard Romaszko TXM Plant As Chairman I am very much looking forward to working with the new committee who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience for all corners of the industry. Following the election of the new committee we heard about the way that the Committee works and the main issues that are presently being reviewed and discussed. This last year we have also taken up the issues of workload that has caused so much concern. Supplementary Conditions One issue that is very much on the front burner and in need of membership input is the review of our contract conditions. The members work to the Rail Plant Association Supplementary Conditions alongside the Construction Plant-hire Association Model Conditions for the Hiring of Plant. These conditions help members to trade in accordance with their statutory duty and can help to ensure that appropriate insurances are in place. The CPA legal team are reviewing all of these contract terms, clause by clause, to ensure they comply with all current statutes. If any member wishes to raise any issues, they are recommended to do so as soon as they are able, to the main office. The attendees then learned of the ongoing collaboration with other principle industry groups including the M&EE Group, ISLG, Ballast Dust working group, TSA and RISQS before the conversation turned to the industry workload. Industry Survey Chris Cassley, Policy Manager of the CPA gave a brief presentation to explain the results of the members’ survey undertaken at the back end of 2019. The draft results of the survey have been reported previously but the overall outcomes confirmed the hearsay evidence that started the process. The principle take away issues from the survey were that nearly half of the respondents have cut their investment budgets over the previous three months and 41% are expecting their budgets to be cut going forward. A total of 46% of respondents confirmed that they had reduced their headcounts over the previous three months. Overall the survey confirmed the industry down turn of workload that had been estimated to be an average of 30%, although some members would have been harder hit than others. Campaign Kevin Minton, the Chief Executive of the CPA then explained what was being done to try and reach the industry gate keepers to persuade them to release funds including making contact with various parliamentarians. He confirmed that meetings had been held with members of the all-party parliamentary group for rail and others and that this work will be continuing in the coming months. RPA Leadership Alliance In the afternoon we welcomed key members from Network Rail Capital Delivery as well as tier one contractors and members of the supply chain to the 12th Rail Plant Association Leadership Alliance meeting. Since devolution there was always going to be some concern that this important forum may be retired from service but it was good to see a healthy attendance and a desire to keep it going. There were various discussions starting with a review of recent Network Rail Safety Bulletins relating to OTMs, OTPs and MEWPs and this was followed by an