The recent prosecution of Network Rail after a worker was injured working trackside emphasises the importance of ensuring maintenance and engineering teams are adequately protected when working trackside.
Network Rail has been fined £800,000 after a track worker was struck by a train and almost lost his arm. The worker was supervising a team of 12 on the Up Quarry line between the Redhill Tunnel and Quarry Tunnel in Surrey two and a half years ago when the incident took place.
He was walking next to the track when the passenger train, running from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria, struck his right shoulder and led to him almost losing his arm.
The accident highlights the importance of installing safe barriers and demarcation in high risk locations such as railway embankments.
Office of Rail and Road Principal Inspector Tom Wake said: “This incident shows that although Britain’s railways are the safest in Europe, we can never be complacent.”
Guildford Crown Court heard the work was taking place in an area with a narrow and steep embankment where the ability of track workers to retreat to a ‘position of safety’ when trains approached was materially compromised.
Though the worker was experienced, a lack of clear indication of how close to the track he was led to life-changing injuries, and shows that members of the public without training could also be at risk.
Safety barriers and handrails such as those supplied and installed by Kee Systems are the perfect solution to clearly identify safe areas, separate maintenance and engineering workers and the public from hazards and protect them from harm; uses range from railway embankments and trackside to other high-risk areas such as roadways.
Last year Kee Systems installed 8,000m of safety handrails for the East West Railway Project on the line between Oxford and Bicester.
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Wed, 01/11/2017 – 10:06
The recent prosecution of Network Rail after a worker was injured working trackside emphasises the importance of ensuring maintenance and engineering teams are adequately protected when working trackside.
