A contractor has been fined £450,000 and ordered to pay £300,000 in costs after it failed to ensure two workers who died in a road traffic accident were sufficiently rested to travel.
Renown Consultants was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act in March and sentence was passed virtually at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday (13 May), following a prosecution by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
Zac Payne, 20, and Michael Morris, 48, died on 19 June 2013 while traveling in a company van back to Doncaster after a night shift in Stevenage in the early hours of the morning on the A1 near Claypole, and crashed into a parked articulated lorry.
ORR’s prior investigation found failures to manage fatigue amongst the workforce. The judge found that Payne was driving the van at the time of the incident, despite the company’s insurance policy that stipulated only over 25s may drive their vehicles, and that the company accepted during the trial that under 25s frequently drove company vehicles.
Judge Godsmark said Renown’s gravest failing was to perform a suitable and sufficient risk assessment on the day before the fatalities, which led to the company failing to comply with its own fatigue management procedures, nor did it comply with the working time limits for safety critical work, such as welding and trackside work, which insist there should be a ‘minimum rest period of 12 hours between booking off from a turn of duty to booking on for the next.
‘Lip service paid to fatigue’
In his closing remarks, Godsmark said: “Operations and managers knew what they were supposed to do in relation to fatigue but lip service was paid to these systems. Senior operations cut corners and I found blindness at Doncaster in relation to people driving to and from jobs.
“This failure to take seriously was reflected in [Renown’s] attitude and wilful failure of its no under 25 policy. In regard to those breaches to fatigue falling far short…I consider this a serious and systemic failure by Renown.”
Ian Prosser, chief inspector of railways said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Payne and Mr Morris, and I hope this result brings them peace.
“We welcome the sentence which is the first time that ORR has prosecuted in relation to failures of fatigue management. It shows the seriousness with which the court has taken this tragic case, and shows the fatal consequences that can occur when fatigue policies are disregarded.
“We hope this has acted as a reminder to companies that safety comes first and fatigue policies should be enforced to ensure their workforce is not too tired to work.”
