Amey rail fined £4,000

HSE Press Release: E009:05 21 January 2005

Amey Rail Limited was fined £4,000 yesterday at Camborne Magistrates’ Court in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The prosecution followed an investigation into an incident which took place on 25 January 2004 at Hayle Station, Cornwall resulting in Mr Stuart Light, a contract machine controller, receiving serious injuries.

The incident took place within an engineering possession of the main line during plain line track renewal. A road rail vehicle (RRV) was returning from a site some 3 miles away to Hayle Station. The RRV was propelling a trailer on which a ballast brush – which weighs in excess of 2 tonnes – had been positioned. Three workers stood on the trailer behind the brush for the journey. As the vehicle entered Hayle Station a protruding spigot on the brush made contact with the platform’s coping stones, dislodging the brush from the trailer. The three workers jumped into the 6 foot area between up and down lines. One man, Mr Light, lost his footing on the sleeper ends and fell beneath the rubber tyred driving wheels of the RRV. Mr Light suffered serious spinal injuries resulting in paralysis from the waist down.

HSE’s HM Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) investigated the incident. HMRI Inspector Wayne Miles said:

“This was an entirely avoidable and tragic incident that resulted in Mr Light sustaining terrible injuries that have significantly impaired his quality of life. Rail maintenance and renewal works take place in a hazardous environment and this demands rigorous planning to secure the co-operation of all duty holders and to ensure reasonable standards of safety. The trailer being propelled by the RRV was not suitable for transporting personnel.

“This incident has however effected a positive change in the safety culture of all parties involved. If this momentum is sustained, it should result in a lasting improvement in controlling the risks associated with the operation of rail mounted plant and machinery across the network.”

Amey Rail pleaded guilty in court yesterday to a charge under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in that it failed to conduct its undertaking, in relation to the movement of personnel and on-track plant in a railway engineering possession on the West Country Main Line, in such a way to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment (including Mr Stuart Light) were not exposed to risks to their health and safety. Amey was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,209.50.

Notes to editors

1. Section 3(1) of the HSWA states: ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety’.

2. The maximum penalty in the Magistrates’ Court for a single offence under Section 3(1) is a fine up to £20,000.

3. Information about HSE’s HMRI can be found on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/railways. HSE’s Annual Report on the safety of the railways in Great Britain during 2003/04 can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/railways/annualreport0304/index.htm

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