Sentinel competences and medicals checked before the roster is set. Fatigue hours counted across the week rather than the shift. Road rail plant with its thorough examination in date. Safe work packs issued against the version that was actually briefed, and materials on site before the line blocks. Around thirty modules on one account, and a rail firm turns on the handful it needs.
Track, structures, signalling, overhead line or civils: the discipline differs, the office side does not.
The work inside the possession is the part a rail contractor already has right. It is everything either side of it that decides whether the shift happens at all: whether every name on the roster is competent, medically fit and inside their hours, whether the plant has a current examination, and whether the pack the gang was briefed on is the pack that was issued.
Unibuild is construction management software for UK contractors, built inside a contracting business rather than sold into one. One account carries the labour run, plant and equipment registers, materials and stock, certification and training records, documents, day works, variations and applications for payment.
Built for rail work
What rail work requires, and what Unibuild provides.
A fit-out job and a rail job look alike in a database. They stop looking alike at the access point, at four in the morning, and at handback. Each requirement below is followed by what the platform does about it.
The tradeThe platform
Checked at the access point
Competence is a card, and the card is checked
Nobody walks onto the infrastructure without a valid Sentinel card carrying the right competences, a current medical and a drugs and alcohol screen. The check happens in the dark, by somebody who will turn a person away and leave you a gang short.
Personal Track Safety underpins every other competence on the card
Roles such as Controller of Site Safety and lookout carry their own sponsorship and expiry
Medicals and drugs and alcohol screening run on separate cycles
One lapsed competence removes a person from the roster, not just from a task
Every card and medical on one grid
Sentinel competences, medicals and screening dates sit against the person on one matrix and turn amber before they lapse. The roster is planned against people who are in date, so a card is not discovered at the access point at half past midnight.
Night working, long shifts and travel to a remote access point make working time a safety control. The limits are counted across a rolling period rather than a single shift, and they are tested after an incident rather than before one.
Shift length, rest between shifts and consecutive nights each carry a limit
Travelling time to and from the point of access counts against the day
A roster that works on paper breaches the moment a job overruns
The evidence asked for afterwards is the actual hours, not the planned ones
Hours recorded where the shift happens
Clock in is a scan at the access point, timed by the server rather than by a phone, so the hours on record are the hours actually worked. The labour run shows who is rostered where across the week, which is the view a fatigue conversation needs.
A road rail vehicle is a machine that lifts and travels on the infrastructure, so it sits under LOLER and PUWER as well as the acceptance regime for the network it runs on. A missing certificate stops the machine at the access point.
Thorough examination at least every six months where it lifts people
Lifting accessories, chains and slings examined in their own right
Acceptance and maintenance records asked for before the machine goes on
A machine turned away costs the possession, not just the hire
One record per machine, with its history
Each machine and lifting accessory is held individually by serial number with its examination dates, service history and attachments, on the same reminder page as everything else that expires. What the access point asks for is produced by scanning the machine.
A safe work pack is revised until the last minute, and the gang is briefed on it in a car park in the dark. What matters afterwards is which version was live, who was briefed on it, and whether they signed.
Packs are revised late and reissued under the same job number
A briefing is only evidence if it names the version and the people
Paper packs go into a van and are not seen again
The question is asked after an event, when memory is contested
The version, the people and the time
The pack is delivered to the phone at the point the work starts, frozen at the version that was issued, and acceptance captures the name, the signature and the moment. A briefing completed afterwards says so on its face.
The line blocks at a set time and opens at a set time, whatever happened in between. Materials that arrive late, plant that fails its check and a gang that turns up short all cost the same thing: the whole window.
A possession is booked months ahead and cannot be extended on the night
Materials have to be on site before the block, not ordered during it
An overrun is reported and investigated, not quietly absorbed
A window missed is a window rebooked, often months later
Everything for the shift in one place
Materials, plant, people and documents sit against the shift rather than in four systems, so the pre possession check is one view. What is missing is visible on the Thursday instead of at the access point on the Saturday.
Assurance schemes and principal contractor audits look at the same evidence every year: competence records, plant examinations, close calls, briefings and how quickly you produce them. Losing the qualification costs more than any single contract.
Audits sample records rather than accept assurances
Close calls and near miss reporting are counted, not just collected
Subcontractor competence is assessed as if it were your own
The evidence has to be produced on demand, in a room, in an afternoon
The audit pack already assembled
Competence, examinations, briefings, accident and near miss records sit against the year they belong to with an audit trail on each document. A subcontractor whose insurance or certificate has lapsed drops out of approved status overnight and off the order forms with it.
Counted in the deployment Unibuild was built on, July 2026: one expiry page carrying 376 assets, 141 subcontractor certificates, 84 accreditations, 80 health assessments, 55 instruments and 9 vehicles.
Track and sleepers
Switches and crossings
Ballast and aggregate
Overhead line
Structures and civils
Road rail plant
Signalling and cable
Competence and records
The week
An ordinary week, and the record it leaves.
Six entries from a rail contractor's day book. Nothing here asks anybody to remember something in a car park at half past midnight.
Thursday, the check
The pre possession view lists people, plant, materials and documents against Saturday night. Two competences are amber and one machine is due, with two days to fix both.
Caught on the Thursday
Friday, the roster
The gang is built from people who are in date and inside their hours, because the matrix and the timesheets are the same account.
Roster stands
At the access point
Cards and medicals are current, the machine scans back with its examination in date, and the pack on the phone is the version that was issued.
Everyone goes on
The briefing
The safe work pack is accepted on the phone by name and signature, against a frozen version, before anyone walks up the cess.
Briefed on the record
Handback
Day works, materials used and the close calls raised on the shift are recorded before the gang leaves the compound.
Recorded on the night
The audit
The assurance auditor asks for competence, examinations and briefings for a sample of shifts. Each one is retrieved by the shift it belongs to.
Produced in the room
What it must do
Eight requirements, and an honest answer to each.
Cold, dark, gloved and often with no signal, in two taps rather than ten. A system that cannot meet these eight gets abandoned inside a month, and that is a failure of design rather than of discipline. Unibuild is around thirty modules on one account, and a rail firm turns on a handful.
Gloved, in the dark, with no signal
The field app carries 24 modules on the phone, granted per person, so an operative sees the three things they need and nothing else. Clock in is a QR scan at the access point. The design constraint throughout was a cold morning and a gloved hand, because a system that takes a minute on the cess does not get used twice.
Competence checked before the roster, not at the gate
The training matrix holds every Sentinel competence, medical and screening date against the person, banded amber inside ninety days and red once passed. Planning a shift from people who are in date is a filter rather than a phone call.
Hours that are counted, not estimated
Workforce and time records clock in and out at the point of access, timed by the server. Travel, shift length and rest between shifts are then arithmetic on real data rather than an argument about what the roster said.
Plant that cannot go on without a current examination
Road rail vehicles, lifting accessories and small plant are one record per physical item in assets and inventory, each with a serial, a QR label, a service history and a next examination date. Scanning the machine returns where it has been and what is due on it.
Documents frozen at the version that was issued
RAMS and safe work packs are delivered to the phone at the point the work starts, against a frozen version, and acceptance captures the name, the printed name and the timestamp. Toolbox talks are signed in the room by the people who were in it.
Everything for one shift in one view
Project and site management holds the site diary, drawings, day works and dated photographs against the shift and the worksite, so the pre possession check is a single page rather than four systems and a phone call.
Subcontract competence held to your own standard
Subcontractor management holds insurances, accreditations and competence per firm. A lapse removes that firm from approved status overnight, which withdraws it from the order forms and the labour planner rather than leaving it to be noticed.
Priced per business, not per operative
Users are unlimited on every plan. Trackmen, supervisors, the planner and the directors all sit on the same price, so a framework win that doubles the headcount does not change the bill. Pricing is set against the size and shape of the business rather than published as a rate card, and the pricing page explains how that is worked out.
Governing clauseIf it takes longer than a radio call and a good memory, it will lose to the radio.
Site noticeWhere it stops
Four things Unibuild does not do today.
Every one of these has been asked for by a rail contractor on a demonstration. They are published here rather than discovered in week three.
A Sentinel integration
Competences, medicals and screening dates are held and watched as records on the training matrix, but they are entered and maintained by you. There is no live feed from the Sentinel scheme and no automatic swipe validation at the access point.
Possession planning and booking
The platform holds the shift, the people, the plant and the documents against it. It does not plan possessions, talk to the network operator or manage the booking process, and it is not a replacement for the systems that do.
Automatic fatigue enforcement
Hours are recorded accurately and can be read across a week. The platform does not calculate compliance against a fatigue standard for you, and it will not stop a roster being built. That judgement stays with the person making it.
Signalling design or testing records
Design, testing and commissioning records for signalling work sit in specialist systems, and this does not replace them. What it holds is the labour, plant, competence, documents and commercial side around that work.
Why this is hereHiding the gaps wastes both our afternoons. Ask about all four.
The compound
Materials schedule
The compound and the stores, and the quirk in each line that breaks ordinary inventory software. Written for the trade rather than for any one firm. Most rail contractors will recognise seven or eight of these lines and ignore the rest.
What a UK rail work contractor holds, and the tracking quirk in each line
Key
Category
Typical items
The tracking quirk
Track components
Rail in standard lengths, sleepers in concrete and timber, baseplates, pandrol clips, insulated joints, fishplates
Heavy, delivered to a railhead rather than a yard, and moved by plant. What arrives on site inside a possession has to be counted before the block, not after
Switches and crossings
Switch rails, stock rails, crossings, stretcher bars, point machines and their fixings
Made to order for one layout and worth five figures. A part delivered to the wrong worksite is a possession lost, not a delivery rescheduled
Ballast and aggregate
Track ballast, blanketing sand, type one, spoil going the other way
Measured by the tonne and moved by wagon or lorry. Weighbridge tickets and the volume actually placed rarely agree without a record made on the night
Copper carries a scrap value and a theft risk, and finishes and grades cannot be mixed on one wire run
Structures and civils
Reinforcement, precast units, waterproofing, drainage, bearings, parapet and edge protection
Ordered against a design that is still being approved, so the delivery date and the approval date are two different problems
Road rail plant
Excavators with rail gear, MEWPs, cranes, tampers, trailers and their lifting accessories
Every unit carries an acceptance certificate, a thorough examination and a maintenance history, and any one of them missing stops the machine at the access point
Signalling and cable
Signalling cable, troughing, location cases, cable ties, drums and glands
Drums go out full and come back part used. The consumption only appears in the job cost if the part drum is booked back in
Small plant and tools
Impact wrenches, rail saws, drills, generators, lighting towers, hand tools
Portable appliance testing, calibration on torque tools and a serial number on anything worth stealing from an unlit compound
Competence and records
Sentinel cards, medicals, screening records, briefing sheets, close call reports
Not stock, but the thing most likely to stop a shift. Every item has an expiry and a person attached to it
Regulations
The regimes you work under
Rail carries a heavier competence and assurance load than almost any other trade. Not because rail workers are trusted less, but because the consequence of a mistake on an open line is not a snag. This is the reference version, kept factual.
What each regime asks of a rail work contractor
Regime
What it requires
Network Rail standards and the assurance regime
Work on the infrastructure is governed by the network operator's own standards as well as by statute. Competence, plant acceptance, safe work planning and reporting are all specified, audited and sampled, and the qualification to bid for work rests on producing that evidence rather than on asserting it.
Sentinel and competence management
Every person working on or near the line holds a Sentinel card carrying their competences, sponsored by an employer, backed by a current medical and drugs and alcohol screening. Personal Track Safety underpins the rest. Competences expire independently of each other and of the card itself.
Working time and fatigue
Shift length, rest between shifts, consecutive nights and travelling time are all managed as safety controls rather than as terms of employment. Limits are assessed across a rolling period, and the records of actual hours worked are what an investigation examines.
LOLER 1998 and PUWER 1998
Road rail vehicles, cranes and MEWPs lift people and loads, so they need a thorough examination at least every six months where people are lifted, and lifting accessories are examined in their own right. Work equipment must also be suitable, maintained and inspected where safety depends on its condition.
CDM 2015
On most infrastructure work a rail contractor is a contractor and often a principal contractor, with duties around planning, the construction phase plan and cooperation. The construction phase plan and the safe work pack are separate documents that have to agree with each other.
RIDDOR 2013 and close call reporting
Specified injuries, dangerous occurrences and over seven day injuries are reportable to the enforcing authority. Alongside that, close call reporting is a contractual expectation on the network and the volume reported is itself a measure the client looks at.
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
Where the overhead line or the conductor rail is live, isolation and earthing are the controls that keep people alive, and the permit and the isolation record are the evidence they were applied. The record has to identify who authorised, who accepted and when.
COSHH 2002 and noise
Adhesives, resins, fuels and solvents carry assessments and storage conditions. Night working next to tampers, saws and generators makes noise exposure and hearing protection a monitored control rather than a sign on a fence.
Questions
Requests for information
The questions rail contractors actually raise on a demonstration, answered on the record. Open one to read the response.
The marketWhat software do UK rail contractors use?+
Most run a combination rather than a system: the network operator's own portals for possessions and assurance, a spreadsheet for the roster, a competence list that somebody maintains by hand, and an accounts package behind it. Unibuild sits on the contractor's side of that: labour, competence, plant, materials, documents and the commercial position, with modules turned on as you need them rather than all at once.
CompetenceCan it hold Sentinel competences and medicals?+
Yes, and it is one of the strongest fits for this trade. Every competence, medical and screening date sits against the person on one grid, turning amber before it lapses rather than after. What it does not do is talk to the Sentinel scheme: the records are yours to enter and maintain, which is set out in the site notice above.
FatigueWill it stop us breaching fatigue limits?+
No, and that is worth saying plainly. It records hours accurately, at the access point, timed by the server, and it shows the week rather than the shift. Assessing that against a fatigue standard and deciding whether a roster is safe stays with a person. What changes is that the conversation happens on real data rather than on the roster as planned.
PlantHow does it handle road rail plant examinations?+
Each machine is a record of its own with make, model, serial number, acceptance documents, service history and a next examination date, and lifting accessories are held the same way. One page watches the registers together, so what is due is a list rather than a hunt, and scanning the machine at the compound returns its history.
AdoptionWill the gangs actually use it?+
Only if what you ask of them is small. The realistic answer is to grant each operative three things on the phone, clock in, pack acceptance and close call reporting, and leave everything else to the office. Permissions are granted per person, so that is a configuration rather than a compromise. Firms that try to put the whole platform in every operative's hand in month one are the ones where adoption fails.
PossessionsDoes it plan possessions?+
No. Possession planning and booking happen in the network operator's systems and this does not replace them. What it does is hold everything you need to fill the possession, the people, the plant, the materials and the documents, against the shift, so the pre possession check is one view instead of four.
SubcontractorsWe use a lot of subcontract labour. Does that work?+
Yes, and it is where the automatic part earns its keep. Insurances, accreditations and competence are held per firm, and a lapse removes that firm from approved status overnight, which withdraws it from the order forms and the labour planner. That has fired 62 times on live data in the deployment this was built on.
PricingHow is it priced, and do you charge per operative?+
Users are unlimited and the price does not change when you take people on, which matters in a trade that flexes with the framework. There is no published rate card, because a twelve person firm running three modules and a two hundred person firm running twenty are not the same product. Pricing is worked out against the size and shape of the business on the demonstration.
SignalWhat happens when there is no signal at the worksite?+
The field app is built for patchy coverage, which on a rural embankment at two in the morning is the normal condition rather than an edge case. The practical advice on a demonstration is to test it on your worst worksite rather than your best one, because that is the one that decides whether the data is trustworthy six months later.
RolloutDo we have to move everything across at once?+
No, and it is usually a poor idea. Most rail contractors start with the thing that costs them most, commonly competence and plant examinations, and add modules once the first is habit. Cataloguing every record you hold before anyone uses the system is the most reliable way to kill the project.
Return slip
Come and try it on your own possession.
Half an hour, on your own shifts and your own competence list. Bring next month's roster and we will set it up in front of you. Unlimited users, never per seat, and fourteen days to try it without a card.
