Carillion fined £200,000 following death of rail worker.

One of the UK’s largest construction companies, Carillion, has been fined £200,000 after the death of a Doncaster worker.

After the case, the rail union, RMT, said the fine was "wholly inadequate" after a series of health and safety failures led to Scott Dobson’s death

Carillion Construction, which pleaded guilty at Lincolnshire Magistrates' Court, was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £36,570.39 costs following a prosecution brought by the Office of Rail and Road for breaching health and safety laws.

In December 2012, Mr Dobson, from Doncaster, was carrying out maintenance work near Saxilby, Lincolnshire, when he was struck by a passing train.

It was said that only one of the two railway lines had been blocked during maintenance, whereas both lines should have been closed to minimise the possibility of workers being struck by passing trains.

HM Chief Inspector of Railways, Ian Prosser, said: "This accident was wholly avoidable, had Carillion Construction Ltd followed health and safety rules set out for the railways.

"The safety of workers and passengers is a top priority for the regulator, which is why ORR inspectors are out on the railway daily, monitoring to ensure safety isn't compromised."

RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash, said: "A fine of £200,000 to a giant company like Carillion is peanuts and will be written off as petty cash. This is a pathetic and wholly inadequate penalty for a series of corporate errors that led to the wholly avoidable death of Scott Dobson.

"This tragedy must serve as a wake-up call to Network Rail and our industry as a whole. The culture of contracting and casualisation on our railways means that corners are being cut and safety compromised.

“This cash-led gambling with rail workers' lives has to stop and should be called to a halt now before we have more avoidable deaths on our hands."