Electrocution followed tick box approach to checking

摘要

In this legal casenote, we look at a prosecution that resulted in a rail company and its cleaning contractor being ordered to pay fines and costs totalling almost £4 million for failures that led to the death of a train cleaner. The incident occurred near Hastings in East Sussex at the West Marina Depot, which is operated by London and South Eastern Railway (LSER) under lease from Network Rail. LSER contracted Wetton Cleaning Services to clean its trains at the depot. On 23 May 2014, Roger Lower, a cleaner, arrived for his night shift shortly after 10pm to work with colleagues cleaning the sides of trains in the cleaning sheds at the depot. He was electrocuted after falling on a live 750 volt rail, where he was found early next morning. He was aged 46 and had been working for Wetton for three months.