Near-miss: trackside workers seconds from death, RAIB report finds
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has released a report detailing an incident where a group of trackside workers narrowly avoided being struck by an express passenger train travelling at 125mph.
The incident occurred at Egmanton level crossing, on the East Coast Main Line between Newark and Retford, in October 2017.
The driver of the train spotted the group and sounded his horn, but the workers did not respond. RAIB said the workers were only made aware of the oncoming train three seconds before it reached them. One worker warned his colleagues - who were between the running rails - of the approaching train, allowing them to move out the way with a second to spare.
An RAIB investigation found that the group had been working under an unsafe and unofficial system of work, set up by the Person in Charge (PiC).
Instead of using the Train Operated Warning System (TOWS) to immediately move his team to - and remain in - a position of safety while TOWS was warning of an approaching train, the PiC instead used the audible warning as a cue for the lookout to start watching for approaching trains, in order to maximise the working time of the group on the track. However, both the lookout and PiC became distracted as the train approached.
RAIB also found that although some workers felt the system was unsafe, they were afraid to challenge the PiC in case they lost work.
“When the person in charge of a team is both a strong personality and an employee of the client, it can be particularly hard for contract workers to challenge unsafe behaviour,” said RAIB Chief Inspector Simon French.
“In this investigation, RAIB found that the person in charge had adopted an unsafe method of working, in an attempt to undertake additional unplanned work.
“Both the person in charge and team members became distracted, and the result was that three of them found themselves jumping clear of a train travelling at 125mph with just one second to spare. This came so close to being a major tragedy.” ■ See Philip Haigh, pages 56-57.