Companies fined £965,000 after painter’s injury

BAM Nuttall and McNealy Brown have been fined a total of £965,000, after they admitted failing to put proper procedures and safeguards in place to prevent a painter falling through a ceiling into a waiting room at East Croydon station on January 7 2015.

Painter Paul Welstead suffered ligament damage and has been unable to work as an industrial painter since the 10ft fall.

BAM Nuttall was fined £900,000 and McNealy Brown £65,000, after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) brought a prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The companies were fined at Croydon Crown Court on April 18.

The two companies were awarded a £12 million contract by Network Rail to replace station floor surfaces, canopy roofs and cladding. Work started in January 2014, and later that year a third company (DRH) was asked to supply industrial painters to undertake specialist tasks.

Welstead and a colleague were given a site induction when they arrived for work on December 18 that year, but the ORR says they were not briefed on the risk assessment, which required work over the platforms to be undertaken at night, for workers to wear full body harnesses, and for the waiting room below to be locked.

Returning to work on January 7 2015, Welstead and his colleague were not given another safety briefing nor warned about fragile roofs. At 0940 he fell through the unguarded suspended ceiling into the waiting room below.

ORR Deputy Director, Policy, Strategy and Planning Johnny Schute said: “The fines handed out send a powerful message to the industry that the safety of workers on the railways is absolutely paramount, and proper risk assessments and briefings must be carried out and followed.

“The ORR is committed to protecting the safety of workers and passengers, and will not hesitate to take enforcement action when and where it is necessary.”