‘You’ve got to have a bit of nous really’ – competence management for UK heritage railways

There are over 170 operational heritage railways throughout the UK, primarily run by volunteers. The Heritage Railway Association has provided guidance on the management of competence, complementing that of the Office of Rail and Road. However, each heritage railway has its own bespoke approach to this issue leading to an inconsistent and fragmented management of competence coupled with an undesirably high rate of safety related incidents in recent years. This paper seeks to understand how competence management can be effectively and consistently applied to the UK heritage railway industry. Aspects such as the volunteer culture, the prevailing language and the diversity of backgrounds, are all factors to be addressed. Following a review of applicable legislation, standards and guidance to understand relevant competence requirements, interviews were carried out with staff working at a variety of heritage railway locations to understand the issue of competence management from their own working perspectives. Core themes emerged from this research including an industry-wide approach to competence management, volunteer motivation and engagement, knowledge transfer, portable competences, and leadership. This research matters because it identifies key issues, from engagement with volunteers actively involved in running the UK’s heritage railways, and makes recommendations for measures to address them.