1. Are London underground Station Supervisors duty-bound to check emergency lighting? 2. How often should station supervisors check emergency lighting? 3. Is emergency lighting part of weekly emergency equipment checks? 4. Who carries out the weekly emergency equipment check? 5. How often should station supervisors check first aid equipment? 6. Is emergency first aid equipment part of the weekly emergency equipment check? 8. What is PGI and who is responsible to carryout this? 9. How often are PGI checks carried out? 10. Is emergency lighting check part of PGI? 11. How often do electrical engineering contractors check emergency lighting? 12. Please provide copies of PGIs carried out from January 2017 to June 2017. 13. When was the last emergency light failure reported at Earls Court station before 6th August 2016? When was this repaired? 15. What is the procedure in place if there is emergency lighting failure at Earl’s Court station? Please provide a copy of the rule. 16. Is it a criminal offence under railway regulations to falsely record emergency lighting checks ? Please provide the relevant laws.

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TfL Ref: FOI-3335-1819

Thank you for your email of 6^th March 2019 asking for information about emergency lighting on the London Underground.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. Note that the Freedom of Information Act relates to recorded information only, and we are only obliged to answer in relation to recorded information held by TfL. We do not believe that all of your questions are requests for information under the terms Act. That said, we have answered them all as best we can within the time allowed for responding to FOI requests (twenty working days). I have separated the response below into those questions we believe fall under FOI (questions 12 and 15) and those that do not (the remainder).

FOI requests:

Question 12. Please provide copies of PGIs (Planned General Inspections) carried out from January 2017 to June 2017.

Answer: Please can you clarify exactly what PGIs you require? Is this in relation to a specific station, for the entire Underground, or something else? Note that I cannot, at this stage, confirm what information is held nor whether it will be released. If we hear nothing further from you by 23^rd April 2019 this element of your request will be considered closed and any subsequent response will be treated as a new request.

Question 15. What is the procedure in place if there is emergency lighting failure at Earl’s Court station? Please provide a copy of the rule.

Answer: We are not obliged to provide you with the procedures for dealing with emergency light failures as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information, under Section 38(1)(b) of the FOI Act – the part of the Act that relates to Health and Safety. In this instance the exemption has been applied as disclosure of the information would be likely to adversely affect the safety and security of TfL employees and the travelling public. Whilst we make no suggestion that you would use this information for anything other than you own interest, disclosure of information under FOI has to be regarded as a disclosure to ‘the public at large’. The information you seek details how London Underground responds to operational incidents and emergencies, and how it operates the railway more generally. It would not be appropriate for this information to be in the public domain, which could then be used to cause incidents or disruption to the network. The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, but in this instance we believe that the public interest in applying the exemption, in order to minimise risk to operational resilience and the welfare of staff and the public, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Non-FOI requests:

Question 1. Are London underground Station Supervisors duty-bound to check emergency lighting?

Answer: Station supervisors (now called ‘Customer Service Managers’) are not duty bound to test emergency lighting. Electrical maintenance contractors test the emergency lighting.

Question 2. How often should station supervisors check emergency lighting?

Answer: Station staff do not test emergency lighting of the station. The emergency lighting is checked by the maintenance contractors monthly.

Question 3. Is emergency lighting part of weekly emergency equipment checks?

Answer: No.

Question 4. Who carries out the weekly emergency equipment check?

Answer: Station staff check emergency equipment on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the equipment in question.

Question 5. How often should station supervisors check first aid equipment?

Answer: First aid equipment is part of the station daily checks. Staff check that the boxes are in place and sealed. If they need to open them or the seal is broken, then they check the stock and replenish the supplies as required then reseal the box.

Question 6. Is emergency first aid equipment part of the weekly emergency equipment check?

Answer: No, it is checked daily as referenced above.

Question 8. What is PGI and who is responsible to carry out this?

Answer: PGI stands for a “Planned General Inspection”. This is a risk-based system carried out by front line staff and managers to check their workplace for hazards, substandard conditions and practices, and to record findings, report issues and enable them to be rectified.

Question 9. How often are PGI checks carried out?

Answer: They are risk-based and depend on the activities undertaken, workplace and location. For stations this could be monthly or 3 monthly depending on the regime and location.

Question 10. Is emergency lighting check part of PGI?

Answer: Yes, but the frequency depends on the local plan.

Question 11. How often do electrical engineering contractors check emergency lighting?

Answer: The requirement for emergency lighting inspection is monthly, with an annual full drain-down of batteries.

Question 13. When was the last emergency light failure reported at Earls Court station before 6th August 2016? When was this repaired?

Answer: We have no record of any failures prior to 6^th August 2016. That is not to say that there were no such failures – rather, a search for the period 1^st April 2014 to 5^th April 2016 did not yield any positive results.

Question 16. Is it a criminal offence under railway regulations to falsely record emergency lighting checks? Please provide the relevant laws.

Answer: I have been unable to find a definitive answer to this question in the time available.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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