Member Article

HearFirst fast tracks to finals for national award

A Lancashire-based equality and disability training provider has reached the finals for a national award for the awareness training it has delivered in partnership with Chiltern Railways.

Award winning training and consultancy company, HearFirst has made the shortlist in the Subcontractor of the Year Micro category of the UK Rail Industry Awards for the training it has delivered to all new staff joining Chiltern to enhance services for their disabled customers.

Organised by Rail Technology Magazine, the annual awards recognise projects that are successfully delivered within the rail industry and an expert panel of judges have selected a shortlist from 23 categories.

HearFirst’s ‘Disability Equality and Awareness for the Railway Workforce’ training increases skills, confidence and understanding around different areas of disability such as physical disabilities, mental health, learning disabilities, ranges of deafness/communication methods and blindness/partial sight.

Chiltern Railways is part of Arriva – A DB Company. The Chiltern training is organised as part of its ongoing commitment to deliver an excellent service to customers including those with a disability.

Disabled customers are protected by the Disabled People’s Protection Policy (DPPP) and although this mainly focusses around people with mobility issues, the Equality Act protects a much wider range of disabled people against discrimination when accessing services.

All HearFirst courses are delivered by in-house tutors who themselves have a disability to add relevance and depth to the training. It is an integral part of the learning experience to spend half a day with someone who has a disability themselves. This also enables them to feedback their own experience to Chiltern Railways about their barriers when travelling by rail.

Part of the training is delivered on the platform and not just inside the classroom to observe potential real life difficulties disabled people have on their journeys and to practice techniques which helps delegates to gain confidence in working with disabled customers in a real environment.

Julie Ryder, Director and Founder of HearFirst, said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted together with Chiltern Railways in these prestigious industry awards, which recognises the work we have delivered to help our client improve the overall customer experience for disabled passengers.

“Railway franchises such as Chiltern Railways provide assistance to passengers with disabilities and we are pleased our bespoke training has contributed towards this. Our lead tutor delivering this training has helped participants to enhance their skills and give them increased knowledge and confidence to meet the needs of customers with disabilities.”

Chad Collins, Head of Stations for Chiltern Railways, said: “Through specific training, more staff, not just those in customer facing roles, are more aware of different kinds of disabilities and able to confidently offer help and guidance to customers making the railway more accessible to everyone. Having disability training as part of induction for all staff who join the company, not just in front line roles, means we have a much wider pool of people around our stations and who work on our trains who can offer assistance in both emergency and non-emergency situations.”

The UK Rail Industry award winners for each category will be announced at a glittering ceremony at Battersea Evolution in London on February 11, 2016.

HearFirst provides a full range of equality and diversity training courses to organisations across the UK. For more information on deaf, disability awareness and BSL training, please contact Julie at HearFirst on 01706 872 816 or visit www.hearfirst.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HearFirst .