Large fine for fall from height injury

Fines totalling £965,000 have been imposed on two companies as a result of a fall from height injury suffered by an employee. BAM Nuttall and McNealy Brown have been fined £900,000 and £65,000 respectively after they admitted failing to put proper procedures and safeguards in place to prevent a worker (in this case a painter PW) falling through the passenger waiting room ceiling at the railway station in East Croydon. PW, who was aged 31 at the time of the accident, suffered severe ligament damage and has been unable to return to work as an industrial painter since falling around 10 feet while working at East Croydon railway station in January 2015.

Croydon Crown Court heard that the two companies agreed the £12million contract with Network Rail to undertake the replacement of station floor surfaces, canopy roofs and cladding. BAM Nuttall started work in January 2014 and later that year a third company (DRH) was asked by the existing contractors to supply industrial painters to undertake specialist tasks.

Failure to brief on risk assessment

PW, and a colleague, were given a site induction when they arrived for work on 18 December, but crucially, they were not briefed on the risk assessment. The RA required work over the platforms to be undertaken at night, and for workers to wear full body harnesses, and for the waiting room below to be locked.

Returning to work on 7 January following the Christmas and New Year holiday, PW and his colleague were not given another safety briefing, nor were they warned about fragile roofs. At 9.40am PW fell through the unguarded suspended ceiling into the waiting room below.

The failure to brief on risk assessment left the companies (and the workers) vulnerable. It is not enough to have a risk assessment, it needs to be:

• in place
• effective
• understood
• communicated

In a prosecution brought by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for the injury resulting from fall from height, the companies were fined after admitting charges under S 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Costs of £7,157 were also awarded.

Johnny Schute, Deputy Director, Policy, Strategy and Planning, said:

The fines handed out send a powerful message to the industry that the safety of workers on the railways is absolutely paramount, and proper risk assessments and briefings must be carried out and followed.

The ORR [Office of Rail and Road] is committed to protecting the safety of workers and passengers and will not hesitate to take enforcement action when and where it is necessary.