Today's press release from the HSE regarding dropped trees on a rail line

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi

 

Thanks for posting,

 

Im surprised the council didnt check quals or inform Network Rail, considering the severity of the incident it could have been a lot worse.

 

N

 

Appropriate quals, e.g. CS32-35 (felling larger trees and wind-blow), is a good start point but 'competence', as in experience (considerable), knowledge and practice is key at this level and in this situation and it was incumbent on the LA to check that too (in the H&S world that is know as Stage 2, i.e. checking the contractors competence.)

 

Good point about NR, I wonder why they didn't consult / inform...I guess they didn't expect it to go wrong.

 

Paul

[Hodge]

When I did some trees next to a railway line I notified Network rail who sent a guy to look at the job with me, luckily I knew the guy and we got it sorted free of charge, they provided 3 lads to keep an eye on things and clear the track just in case, the line only has a train every half hour and is not electric. I sent copy's of our insurance and certs etc.

 

 

Hodge

[Ruskins Trees]

The main point of this is that it is the employers responsibility to check the competence of the sub contractor. If the sub contractor makes a mistake and is found to be incompetent the employer is liable.

 

I was told of a tale, where a lady employed a pair of travellers to take down a dead tree in her front garden, a task they achieved by tying a rope around it, linking it to their transit and driving off.

 

A young child was watching, the tow rope snapped, he went into the road to watch the aftermath and a car nearly hit him, he dived back to the pavement and due to a pre-existing medical condition (forget details), died.

 

The homeowner was liable.

 

If the public was aware of this principle, they would be more likely to employ competent contractors. To the benefit of us all. How contractors prove they are competent is another story!

[Andy Collins]

With companies under-cutting one anothr in their hunger to get on the LA lists, corners will always be cut. Nothing really changes in this world of Arb. This fine emphasises where the real responsibility lies, and where the buck stops.

[AlexB]

This reassures me that my concerns over local authorities and utilities/rail organisations interested in 30/31-38/39 qualifications. I wonder how many are operating out of scope......

 

 

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[monkeyallan]

We felled around 50 or so mature trees in the same location for the same council a couple of years ago, we had a cos on site and either winched or dismantled all the trees within falling distance of the line, needless to say nothing landed anywhere near the lines. Not sure why we didn't get this job (just a humble employee), perhaps getting a contractor in who can do it properly was just too expensive. Not in the long run it seems.

 

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[NickinMids]

Its a shame there isn't a more detailed description of what they did and what went wrong. Could learn something then. Presumably the guy wasn't a complete idiot or he wouldn't be used by the LA at all. One thing when a beginner gets it wrong but very sobering to think it could happen to an established firm. Or maybe if procedures are followed religiously nothing will ever go wrong..?