Excavator crashes with worker inside
July 30th 17:03 Health and Safety Compliance News
Facilities management staff could be encouraged to improve their health and safety standards after hearing of one worker who suffered serious injuries from a crash involving the machine he was operating.
Investigators from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch found that the excavator, a railway maintenance machine, "ran away" with the operator inside and crashed into a stationary freight train.
According to the report, the vehicle rolled three-quarters of a mile down the track and left the 63-year-old worker in hospital with his injuries.
Rail services were also disrupted due to incident, which left both vehicles damaged.
In a statement, the RAIB said: "During the process of placing it onto the track, the excavator, with its operator on board, ran away towards Inverness, down a gradient of approximately 1 in 60."
The importance of having adequate facilities management provisions in place was also recently highlighted by the case of a Somerset firm, which was fined £10,000 by the Health and Safety Executive when a worker's foot was crushed under a paving machine.
