First prosecution for failure of fatigue management in the rail industry
March 27, 2020
In a case which may have wide ranging implications for the use of contractors on the railway network David Travers QC, leading Nick Ostrowski, instructed by the Office of Rail & Road obtained verdicts of guilty in the ORR’s first prosecution in relation to failures of fatigue management.
The prosecution arose from the death of two employees of Renown Consultants Limited (trading as Renown Railway Services), a contractor to Network Rail, as the men returned home in the small hours of the morning after carrying out welding work on the railway infrastructure. The company was convicted of offences contrary to section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, in relation to the risk to employees, section 3 of the same act in relation to the risk to people other than employees and in relation to regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 for failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
The company will be sentenced sometime later in the year.
Please use the links below for news coverage of the case:-
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