IMPORTANT NOTICE
Forgotten Sentinel cards and the ‘Forgotten Card’ facility on Sentinel
Under the old Sentinel scheme, if you did not have your PTS card with you, you would not be allowed to work. This was to be sure that everyone onsite has been verified as fit and competent for the work they were undertaking. However, with vital work taking place on the infrastructure every day, there will be instances where individuals with key skills will need to be onsite in order for the work to proceed – and they might not have their sentinel card with them. This Note focuses on what to do if an individual has forgotten their PTS card, as well as keep the work to schedule.
The Sentinel ‘Forgotten Card’ function
What happens if that individual has forgotten their card – does the job get cancelled?
• Network Rail have kept the rule that it is mandatory to carry and present your Sentinel card as it is the easiest and quickest way to be authenticated.
• However, the technology is available to allow a Sentinel card to be retrieved without swiping a card, and in an age where we are pressured to deliver more work, more efficiently and safely we need to take advantage of it – especially if it means the difference between a job going ahead or being cancelled.
What are the rules on a forgotten Sentinel card?
• Firstly the card checker must have their card. This is mandatory. The card checker cannot get to their part of the Sentinel app without swiping a valid card.
• Once in this part of the app, the card checker has the option of using the ‘Forgotten Card’ facility if they are presented with an individual that does not have their Sentinel card. The card checker has the right to refuse to use the option and ask the individual to leave site.
• Finally, any individual can only be checked using the Forgotten Card facility a maximum of three times in 12 months. After that the Forgotten Card facility will return a ‘deny access’ anytime they try to enter the work site without having their actual card authenticated.
Further information
• The use of the Forgotten Card facility is only available via the mobile phone app and needs mobile phone reception or access to the internet as it must retrieve information from the Sentinel system. So, if there is no data communications this function will not work.
• Also, the forgotten card check will take longer to complete as it relies on the inputting of data about the individual being checked – another reason why it is at the card checker’s discretion to use it.
RTG Rail Services Ltd