DE LEON, LAPUZ, SANTOS, TUNG

SUBMITTED: 12/1/16

MEESAFE

A case study on an accident caused by poor lighting

Summary of known facts:

An Ipswich railway worker, who was a health and safety representative for the company
at the time of the accident with at least 30 years of work experience, complained to his bosses
about poor lighting in the yard, which was an accident waiting to happen. Eventually he hurt his
wrist and knee when he tripped on discarded rails at night but received compensation for his
injuries.
The employee already notified his bosses regarding improper lighting but his repeated
concerns were actually ignored. A few weeks later he tripped on some discarded rails while
walking across the yard to drive a train. According to investigations, only one set among the
many light towers in the yard was working, and the rails shouldnt have been left there since they
were a potential hazard; there were discarded rails blocking main human traffic passage routes.
After the accident, he made contacted ASLEF, his trade union, to rectify the health and
safety issue. The worker sued the company and the case was settled out of court for 4,900, in
which the employer took responsibility.
Being the health and safety representative, the worker took his job very conscientiously
and brought about the concern about poor lighting causing possible accidents, but he was just
ignored. Also, ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan was very disappointed that the employer
hired a health and safety representative but did not listen to his concerns. He also agreed that
areas with poor lighting can indeed lead to serious accidents like that.

Other probable occurrences:

Insufficient warning signs to indicate possible spots where people can trip such being the
case, there is a high possibility that many people may trip given the poor lighting
Absence of reflective signals/lights to indicate location of unused rails may also
contribute to the factor since having these devices are useful such that they can be seen in
low lights and could inform people of the location of the possible hazards
The worker could be sleepy or preoccupied and not focused on where he is going which
can lower alertness and awareness with respect to the surroundings
Insufficient personnel looking after the workers may lead to insufficient warnings and
slow response to avoid the impending accident
Bad maintenance of the workplace, which could be a reason for some light towers not
working

Probable causes:

Poor lighting; only one out of many light towers was working, thus, providing
insufficient amount of workplace lighting
Improper storage of unused rails can pose a serious hazard when not seen due inadequate
amount of light
Ignorance of management to valid arguments and recommendations of health and safety
representative, leading to neglect of the issue and eventually an accident

Responsibilities and liabilities:

Workplace manager can be liable for not ensuring that the discarded rails are stored
properly. The workplace manager should be in charge of managing the workplace --thus all
hazards must have been identified and fixed
The management or the whole company itself is also liable for ignoring the workers
concerns. Although they assigned a health and safety representative, which also happened to be
the injured employee, they failed to address the raised concerns regarding hazards in the
workplace.

Recommendations:

Make sure all light towers work. There must be regular checking and maintenance to
ensure good working conditions.
Listen to the health and safety representative; he/she can help the company avoid
accidents or incidents, which may lead to charges against that company
Establish sufficient light sources with proper spacings in between to ensure whole
workplace is covered with sufficient light
Have back-up light sources in case of failure of one or more of the light towers
Designate a workplace supervisor to respond and act in case of accident
There should be proper storage of unused rails so that people would not trip on them,
whether there is good lighting or not
Use reflective warning signs to indicate danger zones
PPE is always required. In railroad areas, workers are required to wear brake shoes to
avoid accidents and to provide safety when walking along rails
Familiarity of the workplace --all workers should be familiar of the workplace as he
begins to work there. There should be area maps in different parts of the workplace.

Source:
Thompsons Solicitors. (2012, May 8). Ignored warnings about poor lighting led to accident.
Retrieved November 30, 2016 from http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk/personal-injury/ignoredwarnings-poor-lighting-accident.htm