Terms of Reference

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1. The Group shall be known as the Passenger Carrying Miniature Railway Safety Group. The objectives of the Group are:

 

     ·     to produce guidelines for the safe operation of passenger carrying miniature railways

     ·     to obtain endorsement from HSE

     ·     to promulgate and promote the guidelines

     ·     to provide a system of regular review

     ·     to have a draft completed by Q1 2018 and a final document (after consultation with stakeholders) by Q4 2018

 

For the purposes of this Group a miniature railway is defined as a railway not exceeding 350mm gauge.

 

2. The membership of the Group will normally consist of two formally appointed representatives from each of the following organisations.

 

     10¼” Gauge Railway Society

     7¼” Gauge Society

     The Heywood Society

     Midland Federation of Model Engineers

     National Railway Museum

     Southern Federation of Model Engineering Societies

     Northern Association of Model Engineers

     Britain's Great Little Railways

     Passenger Carrying Miniature Railway manufacturers/suppliers

 

3. In the event that a formally appointed representative is unable to attend a meeting the relevant organisation can appoint a deputy to attend.

 

4. The Group can co-opt other persons, who have specialist knowledge on a particular subject, to serve for a specific period.

 

5. Other organisations can apply to join the Group but any permanent change in the membership shall require the approval of the organisations listed above.

 

6. The Chairman of the Group shall be appointed annually from one of the representatives of the organisations or be an independent person at the discretion of the members of the Group

 

7. Meetings shall be called as and when specific needs arise but there shall be a minimum of one meeting per year.

 

8. The Group shall make arrangements for a Minutes Secretary to attend all meetings.

 

9. The Minutes Secretary shall produce minutes of the meeting for circulation to the members of the Group for approval by them. The minutes may then be circulated to the member organisations.

 

10. The Chairman of the Group shall ensure that a formal Agenda is circulated to all members of the Group two weeks before the date of the next meeting.

 

11. Members of the Group wishing to include items for the Agenda for discussion shall submit them to the Chairman 10 days before the date of the meeting.

 

12. In the event that an organisation feels that a there is a specific item requiring specialist knowledge then they shall have the right to request an expert representative be invited to attend that part of the meeting. Rejection of such a request shall be justified.

 

13. It is hoped that all decisions will be unanimous however if a vote on an issue is necessary the appointed representative from each Organisation shall have one vote. Other persons at the meeting may not vote. The vote will be carried by a majority of those voting.

 

14. Any proposal made by the Group shall be ratified by the Organisations

 

15. Whilst the Organisations retain their autonomy they agree that an approach to, or conversations with, the Health & Safety Executive or any other government or enforcement body which may have implications for the revision of existing guidelines for passenger carrying miniature railways, should be with the full agreement of the Group.

 

16. The venue for the meetings shall be agreed by the members of the Group.

 

17. The cost of hire of the venue and any postage incurred shall be shared by the organisations.

 

18. The costs of travel and any other costs involved to enable the representatives and, where necessary any co-opted persons, to attend a meeting shall be met by the members.

 

19. Any proposed changes to the Terms of Reference for the Group shall be submitted to the Group for discussion and formally agreed by the organisations.

 

 

Date: 14 August 2017