Balfour Beatty Rail Projects Ltd has been fined £350,000 with costs of £50,000 for safety failings after a worker suffered serious burns from overhead lines.
Prosecuted by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) on 9 September, the incident happened when the worker, who was unaware that the overhead lines had not been isolated, suffered 45 per cent burns after coming into contact with the 25,000 volt lines while working on the Thameslink project in March 2011. The individual required extensive skin graft surgery.
ORR prosecuted the company, which was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court following an extensive investigation into the incident.
The court heard how on 27 March 2011 that rail workers subcontracted by Balfour, were installing high voltage cable next to overhead lines near Cricklewood in North West London. They were working at height on cherry-pickers, moving along the track and installing the cable alongside an existing overhead wire. One of the high voltage overhead lines which crossed the site had not been isolated. Those working on the site were unaware of this and the risk to their safety. As a worker checked the distance between the newly installed cable and overhead wire, he made contact with the live wire.
ORR’s investigation found that:
Balfour Beatty was prosecuted for breaching health and safety legislation, after changing its plea to guilty on the fifth day of ORR’s evidence.
Ian Prosser, ORR’s director of Railway Safety, said: “Balfour Beatty has a responsibility to protect its employees and sub-contractors from coming to harm. In this instance, an unacceptable management failure led to a rail worker suffering severe burns after coming into contact with the live overhead wire carrying 25000 volts, which could, and should have been switched off.
“ORR’s investigation revealed that Balfour Beatty’s arrangements fell well short of the standard expected for a construction company operating in a high-risk environment. A lack of planning, a failure to establish a safe system of work, poor communication and training all contributed to this incident, which could very easily have resulted in a fatality.
“Rail worker safety is a top priority for the regulator. After recently approving £250m of funding for improvements in electrical and worker safety, our inspectors are out on the network – scrutinising the behaviour of rail and construction companies such as Balfour Beatty – to ensure safety is not compromised.”
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