Balfour Beatty Rail fined £150,000 after boy electrocuted

Two rail companies, Network Rail Infrastructure (NRIL) and Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services (BBRIS), were today (Wednesday) fined a total of  £300,000 for breaches of health and safety law.

The prosecutions followed an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the death of four year-old Bobby Wood, who was electrocuted after gaining access to live rail in Strood, Kent on 15 June 1999. Both companies had pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing in June 2003.

BBRIS was fined £150,000 for breaching Section 3 (1) of the HSW Act 1974, and ordered to pay costs of £21,000 at Maidstone Crown Court.

NRIL was fined £75,000 for breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (the HSW Act) and £75,000 for breaching regulation 3 of the Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1997. Costs amounted to over £11,400.

HSE, prosecuting, had alleged that the companies had failed to prevent access to the rail infrastructure by ensuring that a gate giving access to it was secure.

Stuart Johnson of HSE's HM Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) said: "This is a tragic reminder of how terribly things can go wrong when rail companies don't do enough to prevent access to the railway.

"I am pleased to say that the rail industry and its partners have done much work recently to address the problem of unauthorised access such as improving fencing and security around sites."