UK: Five actions have been agreed to improve railway workers’ access to safe, clean, accessible and dignified toilets, with a Welfare Charter to be adopted by all industry stakeholders by World Toilet Day on November 19 2025.
In November 2024 train drivers’ union ASLEF launched a Dignity for Drivers campaign, along with a report which General Secretary Mick Whelan said made ‘grim reading’. He said ‘the absence of safe, clean and appropriate toilet facilities, and the lack of opportunities for staff to access them during their working day, is a real problem on the railway’.
Following the ASLEF report, a Welfare for Railway Workers roundtable was convened by HM Chief Inspector of Railways Richard Hines on June 23 this year, bringing together train operators, unions, the Department for Transport, Network Rail and the Rail Safety & Standards Board to discuss improving welfare facilities.
Strategic actions
Five strategic actions have been agreed:
- a welfare charter is to be adopted by all stakeholders, include a commitment to sharing access to facilities, maintenance responsibilities and minimum standards, with the Office of Rail & Road providing support and oversight;
- the Rail Safety & Standards Board Eastern region will be used to pilot practical approaches to shared access and pop-up welfare units;
- Network Rail’s Welfare Facilities App will be expanded and used to identify gaps and provide feedback;
- welfare considerations are to be embedded in infrastructure planning and rolling stock procurement;
- a fair welfare culture will be promoted to break cultural barriers and ensure people feel safe to talk about traditionally sensitive issues.
The charter will be based on a draft developed by RSSB, and ASLEF’s four demands for a maximum period of 4 h without access to toilet facilities as a standard across the industry; the provision of safe, clean, accessible and dignified toilet and welfare facilities across the network; drivers being able to go to the toilet based on their individual and personal needs without being subjected to management interference, discrimination or disciplinary action; all operators providing free sanitary products.
Quick wins
Agreed ‘quick wins’ include universal access arrangements between operators, expanding the Network Rail app to include freight and on-track machine operators and third-party suppliers, producing a database and heat maps of existing facilities to identify and address gaps, adopting interim solutions like pop-up units and rostering adjustments to allow for breaks, especially in the freight sector.
The plan was welcomed by ASLEF President Dave Calfe, who said ‘train drivers will finally have access to toilets at work and will no longer have to go more than 4 h on duty before they have access’.
Welfare facilities are not a luxury
On July 29 Hines wrote to every passenger and freight operator to say ‘access to clean, safe, and reliable welfare facilities is not a luxury — it is a basic requirement in any civilised society. The current situation, where some railway workers still lack adequate facilities or the time to use them, is unacceptable. This is a matter of human dignity, health, safety and respect to our people.’
