Rail Safety & Standards Board

Workforce Development

Meet the team

Lesley Hodsdon - Senior Workforce Development Specialist

Lesley joined RSSB in March 2003 as Workforce Development Specialist and Technical Advisor for the workforce development & competence research programme.

Lesley has a career in international HR and Training consultancy since 1992 initially as International Training Manager for Halcrow /Transmark and from 1996 as Development Director of Rail Training International in London. Lesley has worked in the UK and Europe, Far East, India, Africa, Australia and North America. Lesley is a member of the Rail Industry Skills Forum, GoSkills Stakeholder Board and ARTP (Association of Railway Training Providers) Board.

Prior to coming to the UK she was General Manager Training at State Rail Authority, Sydney from 1990 and had a major career in Australian Technical and Further Education becoming a Director of NSW TAFE (New South Wales Technical and Further Education) prior to joining the rail industry.

Roger Luckins - Workforce Development Specialist

Roger has spent over 32 years on the railways in a number of operational roles, working his way upwards through the footplate grade into a training role and in driver management to becoming responsible for all the operational and safety training for South West Trains.

Since joining RSSB in February 2007, he has been involved as the technical lead for several research and development projects, the review and drafting of the suite of Good Practice Guides connected to workforce development and represents RSSB on major stakeholder groups such as the SUG (Simulator Users Group) and ATOC Driver Training Sub-Group offering technical advice. He is also currently the Chair of the RSSB Simulation Group.

Andrew Taylor - Workforce Development Specialist

Andrew joined RSSB from Heathrow Express in March 2009, having previously been seconded to the WD team as a technical advisor for project T718 (Review of current GB driver training programmes and development of leading practice models for the industry), particularly in the areas of adult learning and innovation. Andrew will continue to act as a technical advisor to various WD R&D projects, as well as working on various projects with his colleagues from the Traffic Operation and Management Delivery Unit (TOM DU). He also specialises in skills and qualifications issues, and provides the Secretariat for the Rail Industry Skills Forum (RISF).

Andrew joined the rail industry in 2003 as a Customer Service Representative for Heathrow Express. He became a CSO (driver) in 2004, a CSO Instuctor in 2005 and was seconded to the position of CSO Trainer in 2007. Before joining the rail industry, Andrew completed his Elementary Flying Training with the University of Wales Air Squadron, while studying for his music degree at Cardiff University.