Rail regulator fines TfL and Balfour Beatty over £400,000 for injury of rail worker

The rail regulator has fined London Underground and Balfour Beatty more than £400,000 for breaking health and safety laws that led to a worker suffering life-changing injuries.

London Underground was fined £100,000 while construction giant Balfour Beatty was hit with a £333,000 fine. Both bodies pleaded guilty to breaking the laws, which resulted in worker Adrian Rascarache being struck by a road rail vehicle on 4 June 2016. His lower body was crushed between the vehicle and the platform edge of Whitechapel station, resulting in serious injuries to his pelvis.

The prosecution was brought by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and was heard at Snaresbrook Crown Court. The court heard that London Underground and Balfour Beatty were aware of the risks involved in allowing workers to guide the vehicles by walking along the tracks, but had no safety system in place at night to address the risks.

The court heard that a new system that would have prevented the need for workers to guide the vehicles was rejected because it was seen as a less efficient way of working.

HM chief inspector of railways Ian Prosser said: “Today’s sentences send a clear message that the health and safety of workers must not be compromised. In this instance, corners were cut as a response to perceived time pressure. This is unacceptable and resulted in the terrible injuries suffered by Mr Rascarache.

“The safety of workers is an absolute priority for the ORR and we will take appropriate action against organisations or individuals when failings are found.”

Director of renewals and enhancements for London Underground, Caroline Sheridan, said: “We offer our sincere apologies to Mr Rascarache and we deeply regret the serious injuries he sustained. TfL staff and contractors undertake some incredibly complex work across our network every day and their safety is always paramount. We take any incident on our network extremely seriously and we continue to work with all our contractors to ensure that our high standards of safety are maintained so that such a terrible incident does not happen again.”

In 2016 the ORR issued an improvement notice to London Underground which it fully complied with.

Balfour Beatty has been approached for comment.