Rail worker killed by train was fatigued and on zero-hours contract

[editor]

Sickening stuff. The bosses and all the other people responsible for this tragedy should be held personally liable.

A track worker killed by a passenger train in south London was on a zero-hours contract, probably fatigued, and left exposed to danger when a colleague failed to turn up for work, investigators have found.

Safety inspectors called for an overhaul of “Victorian methods of protection”, and demanded Network Rail review how its outsourced labour suppliers ensure people are fit to work. They said previous calls for reform, after a death in 2007 and a near-miss in 2017, had not been heeded.

The report comes a week after the deaths of two other track workers, who were hit by a train in south Wales.

Rail worker killed by train was fatigued and on zero-hours contract

 

[danny la rouge]

Not much to add to that, except to echo your sentiments. Sad, predictable, and sickening.

Next person who moans about “health and safety” needs to read about tragedies like this.

 

[souljacker]

Sickening stuff. The bosses and all the other people responsible for this tragedy should be held personally liable.


Rail worker killed by train was fatigued and on zero-hours contract

They can be now since that Corporate Manslaughter law came in a while back. I can't remember hearing of anyone actually getting done for it though. But they broke their own code which says that no-one works on the tracks alone so therefore are guilty in my opinion.

 

[19force8]

This makes me so bloody angry.

Thirty years ago The Hidden Report* into the 1988 Clapham Junction crash laid down strict rules on working hours for safety critical staff and for track workers especially. Now we have fucking zero hours contracts for them.

Investigation into the Clapham Junction Railway Accident :: The Railways Archive

* Strange name, but that's why it sticks in the memory. Also worth noting that it took only ten months to investigate and produce a detailed report and recommendations. That's because British Rail (despite all its faults) was more committed to keeping people safe than it was to dodging blame.

 

[Dillinger4]

This makes me so bloody angry.

Thirty years ago The Hidden Report* into the 1988 Clapham Junction crash laid down strict rules on working hours for safety critical staff and for track workers especially. Now we have fucking zero hours contracts for them.

Investigation into the Clapham Junction Railway Accident :: The Railways Archive

* Strange name, but that's why it sticks in the memory. Also worth noting that it took only ten months to investigate and produce a detailed report and recommendations. That's because British Rail (despite all its faults) was more committed to keeping people safe than it was to dodging blame.

I work for Network Rail. Where I work the working hour restrictions are strictly enforced.

I am very surprised that the person in question was allowed trackside at all. I have seen how much paper work it takes to allow that to even happen. Somebody really really messed up for this to occur.

I had no idea that Network Rail uses zero hour contracts. They shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the track. I am pretty angry about this. This is a completely unnecessary risk.

 

[19force8]

The thing about zero hours contracts is they can result in people working in unsafe conditions.

Track workers on proper contracts will (must) refuse to go on track with less than the minimum team for safe working. They can be assigned other tasks, but if there aren't any they sit in the depot drinking tea until their shift's over. There is no incentive for them to break the rules.

On a zero hours contract you can lose up to 12 hours pay plus they might stop calling you. It's criminal to put workers in that situation.

 

[8ball]

This is too awful - there'd better be corporate manslaughter charges.

 

[Dillinger4]

The thing about zero hours contracts is they can result in people working in unsafe conditions.

Track workers on proper contracts will (must) refuse to go on track with less than the minimum team for safe working. They can be assigned other tasks, but if there aren't any they sit in the depot drinking tea until their shift's over. There is no incentive for them to break the rules.

On a zero hours contract you can lose up to 12 hours pay plus they might stop calling you. It's criminal to put workers in that situation.

Naturally I agree all zero hour contracts are criminal. To use a zero hour contract employee in a safety critical role is beyond criminal.

 

[existentialist]

I work for Network Rail. Where I work the working hour restrictions are strictly enforced.

I am very surprised that the person in question was allowed trackside at all. I have seen how much paper work it takes to allow that to even happen. Somebody really really messed up for this to occur.

I had no idea that Network Rail uses zero hour contracts. They shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the track. I am pretty angry about this. This is a completely unnecessary risk.

The way I suspect this will pan out is that it will be decided that NR wasn't employing people on zero hours contracts, and were "completely unaware" that the (no doubt very competitive) agency was.

Plausible deniability at its finest.

 

[SpineyNorman]

If I (or anyone else normal) was as negligent in our job as they clearly were in theirs and someone died I'd go down for involuntary manslaughter or criminal negligence or something like that and quite rightly imo

I'm sure they will get away with it though. I don't make many predictions any more cos the world has got a bit interesting and unpredictable but I don't think it's hard to call this one.

 

[Supine]

For a bit of balance I know people who work as contractors on the railways and they are very happy as zero hour contractors. It's a highly paid industry for engineering contractors.

There is also nothing in that article to suggest zero hours was actually a problem, it was just supposition.

I don't know the case details though.

 

[butchersapron]

For a bit of balance I know people who work as contractors on the railways and they are very happy as zero hour contractors. It's a highly paid industry for engineering contractors.

There is also nothing in that article to suggest zero hours was actually a problem, it was just supposition.

I don't know the case details though.

Contractors? What do you mean by this?

I go to work on a bit of recently doubletracked line - i regularly saw crews working feet from lines as we passed at speed. Oddly enough they were working 24 hours day because of some other management fuck up. (Line = stapelton road to temple meads)

 

[Supine]

Zero hours is two groups of people. Those exploited who need protection and those who choose to set themselves up as limited companies charging lots of money. I don't know the victims situation but it's not as simple as zero hours is my point.

One friend of mine loves night work because they bill time and a half. They don't work 24 hours they just earn more doing the night shift.

 

[neonwilderness]

I had no idea that Network Rail uses zero hour contracts.

A hired in contractor rather than someone directly employed by Network Rail?

It sounds like the cause was the number of hours worked rather than the zero-hour contract per se, but it’s still no excuse. A system has clearly failed somewhere, I know a couple of people in the industry and their safety critical are enforces pretty strictly.

 

[8115]

Zero hours is two groups of people. Those exploited who need protection and those who choose to set themselves up as limited companies charging lots of money. I don't know the victims situation but it's not as simple as zero hours is my point.

One friend of mine loves night work because they bill time and a half. They don't work 24 hours they just earn more doing the night shift.

You're not working long hours in a second job as a delivery driver because you're a limited company earning loads of money.

 

[butchersapron]

Zero hours is two groups of people.

?

 

[Supine]

You're not working long hours in a second job as a delivery driver because you're a limited company earning loads of money.

Obviously

 

[19force8]

Zero hours is two groups of people. Those exploited who need protection and those who choose to set themselves up as limited companies charging lots of money. I don't know the victims situation but it's not as simple as zero hours is my point.

One friend of mine loves night work because they bill time and a half. They don't work 24 hours they just earn more doing the night shift.

Privatisation opened up a market for skilled rail workers that hadn't been there before. When people with up to 40 years experience got made redundant they suddenly found themselves in demand and able to make serious amounts of money.

The guy walking the tracks isn't going to be one of those, I don't know if he's on minimum wage, but they ain't going to be paying him the kind of money a time served and qualified track worker gets.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

The way I suspect this will pan out is that it will be decided that NR wasn't employing people on zero hours contracts, and were "completely unaware" that the (no doubt very competitive) agency was.

from the grauniad article

Sam Chessex, the acting route managing director of Network Rail’s south-east route, said the incident was “a terrible tragedy involving a member of the railway family”.

She said: “Network Rail does not use zero-hour contracts, and our code of conduct sets out what we expect from suppliers who do use them to ensure contractor safety. As a result of this incident we are reviewing our standards and our supplier practices to ensure they are focused on contractor safety.”

btw, full Rail Accident Investigation Branch report here.

 

[existentialist]

from the grauniad article



btw, full Rail Accident Investigation Branch report here.

So..."we did, but we won't any more. And it's not our fault, anyway"

 

[equationgirl]

These improvements should not be recommendations, they should be mandatory.

 

[ddraig]

Zero hours is two groups of people. Those exploited who need protection and those who choose to set themselves up as limited companies charging lots of money. I don't know the victims situation but it's not as simple as zero hours is my point.

One friend of mine loves night work because they bill time and a half. They don't work 24 hours they just earn more doing the night shift.

Are you a manager/outsourcer/recruitment consultant??

 

[Supine]

Are you a manager/outsourcer/recruitment consultant??

No/No/No

 

[Artaxerxes]

A reading of the report sounds like he was fuming the other guy didn't turn up to work.

He may have been going to look at some lineside equipment, and believed that no trains would approach on the line he was walking along. He was probably fatigued, and may have been distracted by personal issues linked to the fact that a second person, the possession support assistant who was supposed to be with the track worker, was not present as he had not attended for work that night.

Overall it sounds like he shouldn't have been on the track and management should have ensured that without support he didn't need to go out.

 

[A380]

They can be now since that Corporate Manslaughter law came in a while back. I can't remember hearing of anyone actually getting done for it though. But they broke their own code which says that no-one works on the tracks alone so therefore are guilty in my opinion.

This is too awful - there'd better be corporate manslaughter charges.

Sadly I doubt there will be corporate manslaughter charges. The bar is ( who’d have thought it) set very very high.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Workers shouldn't be setting foot on the track during traffic hours unless management have put sufficient training and protection in place to do so.
End of subject.

 

[Gromit]

Not much to add to that, except to echo your sentiments. Sad, predictable, and sickening.

Next person who moans about “health and safety” needs to read about tragedies like this.

Part of the reason I left health and safety... Got fed up of telling people of problems only for it to be ignored until it all goes wrong. No one ever takes H&S seriously until it's too late.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Part of the reason I left health and safety... Got fed up of telling people of problems only for it to be ignored until it all goes wrong. No one ever takes H&S seriously until it's too late.

Well they fucking should do. They can go to prison for it.

 

[Gromit]

Well they fucking should do. They can go to prison for it.

They should.
But they don't.

It's not just at the top. It's top to bottom.
I've seen P Way workers step on live rail (trusting way too much in their boots to protect them).
I've also seen them walk on track direction of travel instead of against DOT (against their training and the rule book).

 

[Magnus McGinty]

They should.
But they don't.

It's not just at the top. It's top to bottom.
I've seen P Way workers step on live rail (trusting way too much in their boots to protect them).
I've also seen them walk on track direction of travel instead of against DOT (against their training and the rule book).

Yeah you can get complacency but that usually points back to training regularity.