Second Annual General Meeting of the IoRW

The second Annual General Meeting of the IoRW under the new Corporate Membership scheme was held on Tuesday 13 June 2006 at TWI. It was preceded by a business briefing on Working Hours Regulations by Grahame Dovey of DTI and Noise at Work regulations by Ian Few, Chief Safety Officer at TWI. These presentations will shortly be available on the IoRW website.

The AGM was attended by 10 members of the current Management Committee who are representatives of Corporate Member companies. The proceedings were as follows:

The IoRW Constitution was re-approved. It will be updated every two or three years if necessary.

The Annual Report of activities for 2005 was presented. There was a significant growth in Corporate Membership and 21 organisations were now members. They included most of the 'main players' in the UK rail sector.

In 2005 two successful business briefings were held for representatives of Corporate Members. The first was held in April on the use, transportation and storage of gases by Brian Dunckley, Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Advisor at Balfour Beatty Rail Technologies. The second was held in October with a further presentation on the storage, use and transportation of gases by Mr Malcolm Moye of British Compressed Gases Association and a presentation by Dr Martin Cosgrove, Occupational Physician, on vibrations at work regulations 2005. Two Technical Seminars were very well attended by members and non-members alike; the first in June at TWI on developments in training and competence assurance in rail welding, the second in November at TWI on developments in aluminothermic welding processes.

Four issues of Welding Lines were published and the IoRW website continued to be regularly visited. The Technical Enquiry Service was also used extensively in 2005.

A financial statement was tabled which showed that currently IoRW is in a strong position. However, it is intended to keep the subscription fee structure under review in future. The promotional campaign will be sustained to recruit 'hot prospect' companies in the UK as well as some relevant organisations overseas.

The current IoRW Management Committee is composed as follows:

Under the IoRW Constitution, when a new Corporate Member joins they will be given the right to nominate a representative to the Management Committee.

Brian Whitney and Bob Sawdon will continue for at least one more year as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively.

The AGM finished with a buffet lunch and this was followed by a meeting of the Management Committee.

Note: Subsequent to the meeting Lincoln Electric (UK) Ltd joined as a Corporate Member and their representative on the Management Committee will be Ian Leddington.