Balfour and Amec fined

Civil engineering groups Balfour Beatty and Amec have each been fined œ5,000 for breaching health and safety legislation.

Both were found guilty by Bow Street magistrates court last week of failing to ensure as far as reasonably practicable, the safety of persons not in their employ. In addition to the fine, the companies were ordered to pay œ864 costs between them.

The case followed an accident on 24 January at Westminster underground station, part of the Jubilee Line Extension Contract 102, in which carpenter John O'Connor, 30, of Dunstable, Beds, suffered a fractured skull.

At the time of the accident O'Connor was cleaning out a 210m-long pipe used to deliver concrete by using a foam ball pushed through by compressed air.

The HSE said it preferred water to be used in cleaning pipes, and stipulated that anyone taking part in such an operation should be fully trained which O'Connor was not.

In a previous incident in June 1995, which involved falling debris on the surface, the same two companies were each fined œ1,000.