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Romec GPS Trial

13 March 2008

An agreement for the trial of Masternaut Mobile Collection Units (MCU) was signed off in December 2007, but the terms of the trial are not widely known, particularly amongst those Romec Engineers who do not have an MCU device fitted to their vehicle.

The GPS enabled MCU logs events minute by minute. Each event is recorded with the time, date, vehicle position, distance travelled and the speed the vehicle is travelling at. It downloads all the data to the Masternaut communication centre using mobile phone technology. The information collected is then available to the company operating the system in their vehicles.

Trial Period

The interim agreement provides for a two stage trial. The trial was due to end at the end of this March 2008 with a joint review to determine the next step which could range from full national rollout to abandonment of the project. However, Romec have not been able to implement certain aspects of the trial agreement – for example engineers have not been receiving individual weekly summary reports and Romec has not produced the base line reports referred to in the final "Evaluating the trial" paragraph. It will not therefore be possible to undertake a review in March and the CWU has advised Romec that the trial will need to continue beyond this date.

Concerns Regarding Use of Data

There are obviously concerns about the potentially intrusive nature of this equipment. It has therefore been agreed that access to the system will be limited and levels of access will be documented in staff lists which will be shared with CWU. Operations Managers do not have on-line access to the system. Information in the form of a printed report should be supplied to engineers on a weekly basis and to managers on a monthly basis. Any attempt to gain unauthorized access to the system will be treated as a disciplinary offence. The system will not be used to instigate disciplinary action – the sole exception relates to persistent speeding / reckless driving where appropriate steps to enable remedial action have been agreed (advising the individual first; if there is a reoccurrence advising their Line Manager, who will speak to the engineer informally; only then, if there are further problems, may conduct action be considered).

Terms of Reference: http://www.cwu.org/uploads/members/TOR GPS 27 11 2007.doc