Eurotunnel has been fined £2.25 million after a “truly horrific” incident at the Channel Tunnel left a worker seriously injured.
A 115kg lighting carriage fell from height, striking an engineering surveyor as it was being winched 18 metres into the air at the UK terminal in Folkestone on April 5, 2018.
The lighting carriage was being winched 18 metres into the air when it fell onto a surveyor below, causing serious injuries. Picture: The Office of Rail and Road
The Channel Tunnel Group Ltd (CTGL), which operates as Eurotunnel, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 following an investigation by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
The surveyor was standing at the base of a lighting mast alongside a maintenance team assisting with an inspection when the wires holding the lighting carriage failed.
The unit fell, striking the surveyor and causing multiple serious injuries. The ORR said the outcome could have been even worse had the structure’s fall not been broken by objects lying around the site.
Investigators found CTGL, which was responsible for maintaining the lighting masts and associated equipment, had failed to ensure they were safe and without risks to health.
The company admitted breaching its duty under Section 4 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
The incident happened at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone in 2018
Richard Hines, HM Chief Inspector of Railways, said: “This catalogue of what were entirely preventable maintenance and planning errors led to a truly horrific incident, and my thoughts are with the injured person and their family for the pain and suffering the incident caused, and continues to cause.
“It is quite simply astonishing to learn that there were occasions where lighting carriages were winched up and down by staff who had not been appropriately trained, without a suitable safe system of work, that there was no effective preventative maintenance of the lighting mast and its equipment, and that there was a lack of an appropriate risk assessment for that specific task.”
He added: “This case serves as another reminder to industry that regular maintenance of equipment and thorough and appropriate risk-assessments in carrying out works is crucial to help prevent a repeat of such an event.”
Eurotunnel was today fined £2.25 million, with costs to be determined by a judge at a later date.
The company, alongside its French partner France Manche SA, jointly operates the Channel Tunnel and is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure used for the cross-Channel transport link.