Inaccurate diagram causes rail worker’s injury

Network Rail has been fined £130K after a worker was injured because the supplied work diagram was inaccurate; the most recent example of a preventable construction accident (reported by BBC News).

Croner’s Health and Safety Team Leader, Stephen Thomas, comments:

“When workers are undertaking such dangerous work, vital safety information such as work diagrams should be kept up-to-date by a competent person. It is also advisable to hold regular meetings with workers to remind them of the dangers that come with their jobs and how they should behave to reduce the chance of accidents or injuries occurring.

“Accidents, such as the one faced by Network Rail, can happen due to complacency over health and safety, especially if accident rates have been low for a while. To help prevent such horrific incidents, it is good practice to have health and safety consultants visit sites to make independent reviews. This includes checking documents, interviewing staff and observing processes/systems in action to make sure they meet current standards and law.

“Tougher sentencing guidelines for serious health and safety breaches were introduced in February, so hopefully this should encourage organisations to put safety at the top of the boardroom agenda where it belongs. If resource is a blocker when it comes to implementing health and safety, outsourcing qualified external consultants can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house professional with the added benefit of providing Helpline access to a team of experts who are available 24/7.” To find out more about Croner’s Health and Safety services, please call 0800 032 4088.