Market Engagement Exercise - T1393 - Occupational health risks in depots relating to silica dust for sanders

This project aims to:

•Improve the GB rail industry’s understanding and identify appropriate mitigations to the exposure risks associated with the creation of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) and non-crystalline (amorphous) silica for staff when undertaking sander replenishment, maintenance and testing activities in depots, sidings and within passenger trains that are fitted with internal sand fillers.

•Provide enhanced knowledge on how the risk of RCS and amorphous silica compares between sand alternatives and GB rail sand.

We are inviting suppliers to provide us a short summary of their capabilities and experience in this subject area to help us deliver a successful project. We welcome collaborative submissions or consortia, where expertise may be shared between organisations. If responding jointly, please specify the lead contact and delivery roles for each party. We are seeking to receive a response by 12:00PM (GMT), 15th July 2025 setting out your potential interest and further information you believe to be relevant using the structure suggested below:

1.Proposed methodology, including an explanation of industry engagement, site visits and analysis that will be carried out. This should include information about the scale of data required, and whether this data is already held or access to it can be facilitated

2.List of key risks associated with the work

3.Estimated timescales

4.Indicative breakdown of costs

Acknowledgement that RSSB will not provide individual feedback on MEQ responses but may share high-level outcomes of the engagement phase after the tender has been published.

For context only, RSSB anticipates this project will be in the region of £100k excl. VAT (£120k incl. VAT), but this is subject to refinement ahead of the formal ITT

The response will be submitted via the Delta e-sourcing portal. We expect the project to commence no later than September 2025 and take no more than 6 months to complete. The full Invitation to Tender (ITT) is anticipated to be issued in late July 2025.