Rail worker dies
Investigations are under way after a Network Rail employee dies while working at the Long Welded Rail Depot in Eastleigh.
A Network Rail employee has died while working at a depot in Hampshire.
Kevin Mauger (53) had been using a piece of heavy machinery at the Long Welded Rail Depot on Dutton Lane in Eastleigh on November 30. Paramedics attended, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The depot is where new track from British Steel at Scunthorpe is welded to form 216-metre lengths, before being taken by train for laying.
Mauger, a rail loading operative, had worked for Network Rail for more than 18 years. The TSSA union stated that he had been carrying out maintenance and died as a result of crushing injuries. It said Network Rail staff were informed of the death by email.
A man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter but later released pending further investigation.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “We are working with British Transport Police to understand what happened, but our thoughts are with the family and friends of our colleague.”
BTP Detective Chief Inspector Paul Langley said: “A full and thorough investigation into the incident is under way, alongside the Health and Safety Executive, to establish exactly what happened.”
TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes said: “This is a sad day for our railway family, and we send our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the Network Rail worker who was killed.
“This fatality is a sad reminder of the need for rigorously safe working practices at all times across our railways and all of our workplaces.”
Network Rail’s safety record for employees and contractors had been steadily improving in recent years. But only last month, safety inspectors demanded that it implements “real change” following the death of two track workers at Margam in South Wales in July 2019, saying the underlying causes had been “repeatedly highlighted” by 44 investigations since 2006 ( RAIL 919).
Gareth Delbridge and Michael “Spike” Lewis died after being struck by a Swansea-London train.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch reported that Network
Rail had not “adequately taken account of the variety of human and organisational factors”, and that while aware of the need for change, had not implemented plans in time.
At the time, RAIB Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents Simon French said: “It is frustrating that the railway has been unable to carry people with it in its attempts to bring about real change. There is now a real sense that things must change.”