Guards Inspector

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to improve quality of life, by bringing people together to get the most out of life.

SWR is part of FirstGroup, the largest rail operator in the UK and second largest bus operator in the UK outside London. FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier. FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.

About the job

To hold day to day accountability for a nominated team or group of Guards to meet the business objectives and needs. This includes all safety, performance and operating aspects inclusive of all guard assessments. In addition to the aforementioned tasks, training, development and the welfare of your team.

Your main responsibilities will be:

Competence

• Provide end to end process management for new entrant route learning including handover from OSTC at the start of the process and OTDM at the end of the process for all OTDM locations. This approach provides both operational standards compliance and consistence as well as a clear and managed focus on timely management of trainee productivity.
• Establish and maintain close working relationships with the local OTDM teams to ensure that trainee progress, development and productivity is effectively communicated. Regular review forums for management of route learning and development for trainees will be established.
• Plan and undertake competence assessments for route knowledge for new entrants for all OTDM locations.
• Plan and undertake core competence and concluding assessments for all contingency Guards.
• Plan and undertake support and confidence interactions for contingency Guards.
• Provide route and traction based support to OTDM locations as required. This may take the form of traction/route specific coaching and assessment or support and development based activities required as part of an individual's agreed development needs.
• Provide assessment and project based support activities to OTDM locations as required.

Operations & Performance

• Provide operational support to the OTS Operations Team for delivery of the functional operational and occupational safety plan.
• Plan, lead and undertake monitoring activities in accordance with our operational and functional requirements for operational, safety and performance processes on behalf of the OTS function.
• Provide expert support in identification, interpretation and development of trend based performance and safety improvement initiatives.
• Establish collaborative working relationships with key stakeholders within SWR to deliver measurable performance and safety improvements.
• Work collaboratively with OTDM locations and the OTS Operations team to identify performance and safety incident hot spots and support delivery of local improvement plans.
• Maintain traction and route knowledge for respective region
• Support delivery of Safety Culture workstreams including safety conversation/briefing topic identification, tracking and delivery.

Customer Experience

• Provide operational support to the OTDM Team for delivery of the functional customer, colleague and commercial plans.
• Plan, lead and undertake monitoring activities in accordance with our customer, colleague and commercial requirements on behalf of the OTS function.
• Provide expert support in identification, interpretation and development of trend based customer, colleague and commercial initiatives.
• Establish collaborative working relationships with key stakeholders within SWR to deliver measurable engagement and commercial improvements.
• Work collaboratively with OTDM locations and the OTS Operations team to identify customer experience improvement needs and support delivery of local improvement plans.
• Maintain traction and route knowledge for respective region
• They will form the big picture mapping journey supporting the cause of going from good to great, driving all the CX standards to a level based from external results (NRPS, VOC, Mystery Shopper, Customer Feedback, Independent Assessments and #allaboard).

As a minimum, you will need to have:

• Must be able to commit to and participate in Level 1 on-call responsibilities , alongside the guards management team
• Must have achieved or be working towards a safety qualification, or display evidence of previous safety/audit management.
• Good knowledge of operations, including a thorough understanding of rules, standards and instructions that are key factors for the delivery of good train service performance.
• Must be fully competent in the duties of Commercial Guards/Metro Guards or able to be trained to meet this criteria; this includes compliance with Rail Industry operational and medical fitness standards.
• The Guards Inspector is required to have a good knowledge of:
  • Operations Standards Manual
  • Safety and Health Manual
  • Rules and Regulations
  • 1996 Procedures
  • Guards Terms and Conditions
  • A1 Assessor
  • TOLO
  • OTMR Downloads
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to analyse reports and information.
• Be able to coach and support staff so that they meet and exceed the requirements of their role.
• Ability to produce accurate reports to tight timescales.
• Competent in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Trust, Bugle, Sheila, Genius for Crews and Crewplan, and use of all apps which are used as part of the guards team
• Experience in an environment dealing with IR issues is desirable

Working pattern

Working an average of 37 hours per week over 5 days

Mon-Fri with additional on-call and out of hours commitment.

Early turn on-call covers from hrs and late turn from hrs.

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Large range of exclusive retail offers
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. FirstGroup's vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.