About
Stadler Rail is a Swiss train manufacturer and maintainer with over 80 years’ experience building and servicing trains. In the past two decades, the company has expanded rapidly, now employing more than 15,000 people worldwide and operating in over 74 countries.
In 2017, Stadler entered the UK rail market, with six locations dedicated to train maintenance and servicing. Their focus is on ensuring trains remain safe, reliable, and ready for passenger use across the UK network.
Challenge
For Stadler Rail UK, one of the biggest challenges was getting a clear picture of what was happening when it came to safety.
Their previous incident reporting process relied on two methods: paper-based forms and a digital QR code system that took employees to a Microsoft Teams form. While these tools collected reports, all the information had to be transferred into an Excel spreadsheet. This was a manual and time-consuming process.
The quality of reporting was another pain point. Submissions were often incomplete, with missing details that made it difficult to understand the full picture. Reviewing reports was clunky, and leaders at each location were spending at least an hour and half each week wading through masses of information to try and identify root causes.
Even essential safety metrics, such as calculating lost time days, the LTI rate (lost time incident rate), and TRIR rate (total recordable incident rate) had to be worked out manually. This was a laborious process that became especially challenging under tight deadlines.
Stadler Rail UK recognised the need for a smarter, more consistent way to capture and manage safety data. They needed a system that would save time, improve accuracy, and deliver the insights they needed to act quickly and confidently.
Solution
The team explored several software providers but found that most met only around 75% of their requirements. Each offered parts of what they needed, but none delivered the full solution. As a result, they were on the verge of commissioning a bespoke platform from a training provider – an approach expected to take 12–24 months.
Then they discovered Notify.
After just one demo, it became clear that Notify could meet for all their specific requirements. Better still, it was immediately available, fully customisable, and backed by an attentive support team ready to help at every step.
Results
Chris described the transition to Notify as seamless, thanks to the support provided by the Notify team.
- Stadler Rail UK now use digital dashboards for monthly reporting, which saves time and delivers a level of detail and insight they previously lacked.
- In the first six months of using Notify, Stadler Rail UK has seen an 87% increase in close call and near miss reports. This provides ample opportunities to identify root causes and prevent serious or lost time accidents. Additionally, their lost time incident rate decreased by 137% in the same six-month period, compared to 2024.
- The data allows Chris and his team to see near miss and close call reports in real-time, respond to them quickly, implement corrective and preventative actions promptly, and assign them to specific individuals to complete. Actions no longer disappear in spreadsheets – individuals are held accountable through action tracking.
As a result, safety managers can now spend more time on site visits, engaging with frontline staff and using their expertise to identify hazards before they become accidents – rather than being stuck at their desks inputting and managing data.
Stadler Rail UK use Notify for Risk Assessments, Incident Management, Audits and Inspections, Action Tracking, and Safety Intelligence.