Network Rail has been fined £1.2m after an incident where a grandfather lost his life while carrying out maintenance duties
The victim was Kevin Mauger, who worked for Network Rail for many years. Mauger was fatally crushed by a railway track weighing six tons at a rail depot located in Hampshire. Kevin, aged 53, from Eastleigh, was a father to five children and a grandfather to eight.
On November 30, 2020, Mauger was involved in maintenance work on Network Rail’s rail production line at the Long Welded Rail Depot situated off Dutton Lane in Eastleigh.
Network Rail neglected safety measures
While cleaning the interior of a butt-welding machine – a device used to join two segments of rail tracks – a critical error occurred.
The machine’s conveyor system was incorrectly configured, causing a portion of the rail track to enter the machine while Kevin was still inside. This causes an immediate fatality at the scene.
Following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it was determined that Network Rail had not ensured the implementation of a secure work procedure during maintenance operations on its rail production line.
Network Rail had not completed a thorough risk assessment for this specific type of maintenance activity.
“Kevin died on my dad’s birthday, and my birthday is the day after, which was also the day our son had his first child, our youngest grandson. Kevin never got to meet him. This has completely devastated our son,” said Mauger’s wife.
“Our family have been terribly affected by Kevin’s death. One of our daughters feels she cannot give her own children the Christmas me and Kevin gave her as a child as she now finds Christmas really difficult without her dad. Our eldest daughter has had issues with her car but cannot bear to sell it as her dad helped her buy it,” she added.
Kevin Mauger’s death was avoidable, according to the HSE
Network Rail admitted guilt for violating Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company received a fine amounting to £1.2m and was also instructed to cover costs totalling £11,410. These legal consequences were mandated in a written judgment delivered on August 8, 2023, at West Hampshire Magistrates’ Court.
“This tragic accident was wholly avoidable, caused by the failure of the company to implement safe systems of work,” said HSE inspector Amanda Huff.
“There were no written isolation procedures in place when they were working on this highly dangerous piece of machinery, and the risk assessment for carrying out maintenance was inadequate – it failed to identify suitable and sufficient control measures,” she concluded.
