Checklist
NR/L2/OHS/003 roster checklist
The Network Rail fatigue management standard sets two kinds of number. Hard limits are not to be rostered. Triggers require a documented exceedance assessment and a management plan, after which the work may still proceed. Treating a trigger as a breach puts a planner in the wrong conversation with the regulator; treating a limit as a trigger puts them in a worse one. Tick each line against the roster before it is published.
Every figure below is read from the Network Rail NR 003 profile in the RotaPulse engine (v2026.08.0), the same profile that scores a rail shift on the free FRI calculator. Guidance, not a safety certification.
Hard limits: not to be rostered
- No period of duty longer than 12 hoursNot rostering more than this per period of duty or shift.
- Rest between booking off and booking on of at least 12 hours
- No more than 13 duties in any 14 daysConsecutive periods of duty, counted over a rolling window.
- A break of at least 30 minutes on any duty over 8 hours
Triggers: exceedance assessment required
Crossing one of these does not stop the work. It requires the exceedance to be declared, assessed and managed in writing.
- Hours in any rolling seven days above 60 hoursTrigger A: exceedance assessment and management plan.
- Hours in any rolling seven days above 72 hoursTrigger B: escalated assessment.
- Fatigue index, daytime work, at or above 35Trigger F. The index already penalises night work, so the night figure is higher.
- Fatigue index, night-time work, at or above 45Trigger F, night-time.
- Risk index at or above 1.6Trigger G, regardless of the time of day.
- Door to door, including travel either side, above 14 hoursTrigger H.
Advisory: good practice under the standard
- Consecutive night shifts of up to 8 hours, no more than 7 in a rowSupply-chain guidance implementing the standard; shift-length dependent.
- Consecutive night shifts over 8 hours, no more than 4 in a row
- Rest after a run of nights of at least 48 hoursBest practice (two nights' sleep), not a requirement the standard imposes.
RotaPulse's early warning, not the standard's
- RotaPulse early warning: fatigue index at or above 28Ours, not the standard's. The standard defines one trigger per period; this is an amber band below the daytime trigger of 35 so a roster drifting toward an exceedance is seen while there is time to change it.
There is no pass mark. A fatigue index is a comparison with a reference pattern, not a verdict on a person, and every published evaluation of the FRI makes the same point: planned rotas understate real fatigue. Score the roster as planned, then score the hours as worked.
Score one duty against this profile on the free FRI calculator, or read how the standard sits alongside ORR's fatigue factors and the RAIB London Bridge findings on the rail page. RotaPulse scores whole rosters against it, free up to 10 workers.
Sources: Network Rail NR/L2/OHS/003; supply-chain procedures implementing it (VolkerRail SAF06 Issue 7; Rail Safe Group BMS 10/2/1, Aug 2024); HSE Research Report RR446. RotaPulse is a TeZe Ltd product. rotapulse.co.uk/fri-calculator/nr-l2-ohs-003-checklist