A construction company – Carillion Construction Ltd – has been fined hundreds of thousands of pounds after its health and safety failings meant that a rail worker was killed on the tracks by a passing train near Lincoln.
Lincoln Crown Court was told that 26-year-old Scott Dobson had been leading a group of maintenance workers by the side of a railway track in 2012, but he strayed into the six foot gap between the two lines.
As a result, Mr Dobson was in the path of an oncoming train and failed to move out of the way in time, and he was killed upon impact.
However, evidence indicated that the fatal incident should never have been able to occur, because the worker was self-employed and should not have been in charge of site safety.
Two other safety incidents involving Mr Dobson had occurred two months prior to his death, and an investigation should have been carried out and concluded before he was allowed to take such a senior safety role.
Carillion, the company that hired Mr Dobson for the job, pleaded guilty to a single charge of failing to discharge a duty under section 3 (1) of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.
It was ordered to pay £200,000 within 56 days, as well as legal costs of £36,579.
Judge Simon Hirst, in sentencing, said that after reading a victim impact statement from the deceased’s mother it was obvious that he was loved and missed by his family.
The Judge stated that Carillion was not directly responsible for Mr Dobson’s death, but he added: “As is accepted by all parties Mr Dobson should not have been working as the controller of site safety.”