Client work
RailGard AI is a fatigue risk management platform for the UK rail industry. Big S built it end to end: product design, application development, the risk model behind it, and the deployment pipeline it ships on.
The Problem
Rail operators have long run fatigue management on spreadsheets, paper declarations and manual checks. It is slow, it is easy to get wrong, and when the Office of Rail and Road asks for evidence it is difficult to produce. The brief was to replace all of that with one system that planners, safety teams and workers on site each use for their own part of the job.
The Solution
At the centre is a scoring engine that assesses every shift rather than relying on a worker's own estimate. It weighs the time of day against circadian rhythm, the length of the shift, hours already worked that week, recovery time since the last shift, and a penalty for night work, producing a single score and a risk band a planner can act on. Thresholds and the working time policy are configurable, so an operator can tighten them per client or contract.
The platform is multi-tenant, so each operator's data is isolated and each has its own integration credentials, branding and policy settings. It is in live use at Enviroclean as their fatigue risk management system.
What the platform does
Fatigue Risk Management System
A complete FRMS framework built around the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle the ORR recommends, so policy, assessment, incidents and corrective actions live in one place.
- Policy creation and version control
- Fatigue risk assessments with scoring
- Incident investigation and tracking
- Training and competency records
- Compliance audit trails
Smart Scheduling
Rosters are checked against working time regulations and fatigue thresholds as they are built, so conflicts surface before a shift is published rather than at audit.
- Drag-and-drop shift builder
- Working time regulation checks
- Rest period validation
- Shift group management
- Calendar and list views
Fatigue Risk Scoring
A bio-mathematical model scores every shift from shift pattern, rest, circadian rhythm and cumulative workload, not a worker's own estimate, and bands the result for planners.
- Automated risk index calculations
- Circadian rhythm modelling
- Cumulative fatigue tracking
- Risk thresholds and alerts
- Historical trend analysis
Mobile Workers App
Workers manage their own shifts, fitness checks and fatigue reports from site, with everything queued locally when there is no signal.
- Clock in and out with GPS verification
- Accept or decline shift assignments
- Pre-shift fatigue self-assessment
- Push notifications for schedule changes
- Offline capability with sync
My Shifts
Data Integration
Worker profiles, certifications and competencies sync automatically from RailSentinel, so nothing is re-keyed and nothing drifts out of date.
- Automated import from external systems
- Scheduled sync intervals
- Certification and PTS tracking
- Conflict resolution and deduplication
- Full audit log of sync operations
And more
Everything else it needed
Analytics & Reports
Trend analysis, compliance dashboards and exportable reports for audits and management reviews.
Expiry Alerts
Automated notifications for expiring PTS cards, medicals, certifications and qualifications.
Employee Management
Workforce directory with roles, qualifications, accommodation needs and contact details.
Company Management
Client companies and subcontractors held as separate records, with reporting to match.
Custom Branding
White-label the platform with each organisation's own logo, colours and branding.
Role-Based Access
Granular admin, manager and employee permissions controlling who sees what.
Under the bonnet
How it was built
Front end
- Vue 3 with the Composition API
- Vite build tooling
- Pinia state management
- Vue Router
- SCSS design system
Back end
- PHP 8 with PDO
- MySQL, ~40 tables
- Token sessions, bcrypt hashing
- Role-based access control
- REST API per domain
Fatigue engine
- Bio-mathematical scoring model
- Circadian time-of-day weighting
- Shift duration and night penalties
- Cumulative hours and recovery
- Grounded in HSE and ORR research
Integration
- Python and Playwright automation
- Multi-factor login handling
- Session persistence
- Scheduled background sync
- Per-company credentials
Mobile
- Offline-first sync queue
- Push notification tokens
- GPS-verified clock in and out
Infrastructure
- Plesk with Apache and nginx
- GitHub Actions CI/CD
- Automated database migrations
- Multi-tenant data isolation
Fatigue management moved from spreadsheets to a single system the whole workforce uses.
Services provided
- Product design
- UX/UI design
- Vue 3 front-end build
- PHP & MySQL back end
- Bio-mathematical modelling
- Third-party integration
- Workers' mobile app
- Multi-tenant architecture
- Automated deployment
- Fully responsive
Next project
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