The Mini Token Blog

Reports confirmed the death of two construction workers after they both fell from railway bridges in Scotland last week in separate incidents. Both the workers died within a time span of a few hours at the site where they were assigned painting and blasting responsibilities on the railway bridges.

The deceased contract workers were Robert McDonald and David Rodger. McDonald, a painter employed with the Forth Bridge painting team, had a 150 ft fall from a ladder on which he was perched while painting. The second victim, Rodger, also succumbed to severe injuries after he fell onto a ledge from a height.

Harry Frew, the Scotland UCATT Regional Secretary expressed his concerns over the failure of safety measures in the construction industry. He reiterated that safety at all construction sites must be one of the prime considerations.

Expressing deep shock and regret over the news of the two deaths on the Forth and Tay Bridges, the Network Rail Scotland route director David Simpson spoke about the inquiry which had already been commissioned into uncovering the fundamental cause behind the accidents. He pointed out that stringent safety regulations on these two locations had curtailed the number of mishaps that occurred here in the past decade.

Director of Railway Safety in the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), Ian Prosser also expressed sympathy for the families of the two dead workers. He confirmed that while they were waiting for more information into the cause of the Tay Bridge accident; the investigation into the Forth bridge accident had already been initiated. He said that the results of these investigations that were being carried out would not only give them an insight into the reason for the accidents, but also enable them to step up safety measures to avert such incidents.

For anyone involved in major building, maintenance or refurbishment work compliance with Construction (Design and Management) Regulations - CDM Regulations - is compulsory. Contact the experts at Workplace Law about their CDM coordinator services, who give advice and assistance to the client on their role and the measures they must take work procedures up to date with the requirements of new legislation.