Eurotunnel (the Channel Tunnel Group Limited – CTGL) has been handed a fine of £2.25 million after what the Chief Inspector of Railways described as “entirely preventable maintenance and planning errors” caused a worker serious and multiple injuries.

The company pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The fine was the result of an investigation and prosecution by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), and related to an incident that took place eight years ago, on 5 April 2018 in Folkestone, at Eurotunnel’s UK terminal of the Channel Tunnel. The tunnel carries both freight and passenger services under the English Channel between England and France.

An engineering surveyor had been standing at the foot of a lighting mast, and was accompanied by a team of Eurotunnel maintenance workers that was assisting with their inspection. A lighting carriage was being winched to the top of the mast, which was eighteen metres high, when the wires that were holding it failed.

The unit, which weighed 115 kilogrammes, fell and struck the surveyor, causing multiple serious injuries. The structure’s fall was broken by objects lying around the site, which prevented the outcome being even worse.

CTGL was responsible for and controlled maintenance of the lighting masts, as well as the equipment situationir associated equipment and the premises in which the masts were situated.

The ORR’s investigation found that the company had breached its statutory duty under Section 4 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, because it had not taken sufficient measures to make sure that the lighting masts were safe and did not present risks to health.

“This catalogue of what were entirely preventable maintenance and planning errors led to a truly horrific incident, and my thoughts are with the injured person and their family for the pain and suffering the incident caused, and continues to cause.

“It is quite simply astonishing to learn that there were occasions where lighting carriages were winched up and down by staff who had not been appropriately trained, without a suitable safe system of work, that there was no effective preventative maintenance of the lighting mast and its equipment, and that there was a lack of an appropriate risk assessment for that specific task.

“This case serves as another reminder to industry that regular maintenance of equipment and thorough and appropriate risk assessments in carrying out works is crucial to help prevent a repeat of such an event.”

Richard Hines, HM Chief Inspector of Railways