Hatfield Rail Crash Manslaughter Charges dropped - Company plead guilty to breach of s3 of Health and Safety at Work Act

20/07/05

Follwoing upon the dropping of Manslaughter charges it is reported thatBalfour Beatty has changed its plea in relation to the health and safety charge it faces in England over the deaths of four passengers in the Hatfield rail crash.
Balfour Beatty has reportedly pleaded guilty to a charge under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, in that it failed to conduct the safe maintenance of the railway line to ensure passengers were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
On behalf of Balfour Beatty it was said that
"The occurrence of deaths is accepted by Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure Services Limited to be a factor aggravating the offence to which they plead guilty.
"There was no single cause of the derailment, but an aggregation of causes... the breaches were significant when aggregated with failures on the part of others and/or systematic failure of the railway industry."
The company is also reported to have accepted that it failed to make sure that visual inspections of the track were carried out in the appropriate location.
On Thursday, the corporate manslaughter charge against Balfour Beatty and those against five Balfour Beatty and Network Rail managers were dismissed.
The five individual managers, Balfour Beatty and Network Rail still face the health and safety charges, which they deny.


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