A senior Tube manager risked workmen being electro

A senior Tube manager risked workmen being electrocuted in his hurry to get a works project finished, a court heard today.

(mon)

David Elkington, 41, operated an ‘unsafe and dangerous’ regime while his team of 20 worked inches from live rails in wet or icy conditions, it was
alleged.

And Elkington’s employers, London Underground Ltd ‘did not care’ about his working methods, it was alleged.

One workman who received a nasty jolt spent three and a half hours connected to a heart monitor.

And others narrowly avoided being mown down by oncoming trains, it was alleged.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how a ‘culture of fear’ existed after two workmen, who complained about the lack of safety, were sacked by Elkington.

Nobody spoke out in case they risked their jobs, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

James Ageros, prosecuting, told the jury Elkington had 30 years experience working for LUL when he was made a Signal Operation Manager for the Central Line in 1996.

He was in charge of 20 men, sub-contracted from building firm Kvaerner, tasked with upgrading track circuits and ATP loops – heavy duty electrical
cables which transmit safety information – on the entire line.

Mr Ageros said: ‘In the simplest terms what the Crown say is that Mr Elkington is guilty of making the men carry out the work when the electric current which powers the tube was still on, with the clear and obvious risk that they might suffer potentially fatal electric shocks.

‘He also made the men work on the track when trains were still running, or when the lookouts who were placed to warn of their arrival were either untrained or in possession of insufficient equipment to carry out the job properly and that therefore there was a risk they would be hit by trains.

Mr Ageros told the jury that working on live rails was ‘extremely dangerous’.

If workmen touched either the positive or negative rail in dry conditions for more than half a second, fibrillation – an uncontrollable twitching – of the heart could occur and this could be fatal, he explained.

Before men started work paperwork notifying LUL was meant to have been filled in, detailing when tracks, particularly in sidings should be turned off.

But the jury heard Elkington never filled in the forms despite having written to bosses before the ‘Loop Strengthening Project’ and stating that he knew he should do so.

‘In spite of his own method statement he continued to direct his men to work when it was still on,’ Mr Ageros said.

Instead of turning off live rails, Elkington occasionally let some of the men work on insulated pads ‘called juice mats.

But there were never enough mats to be used among the 20 workmen.

‘You will hear that Mr Elkington discouraged their use [juice mats] because he felt they slowed the work down.

‘

The work involved pulling out cables inches away from the live rail, the court heard.

Mr Ageros also detailed how LUL were also to blame:

‘No thought was given to devising a proper and phased plan for the work, neither by Elkington nor by those at LUL who ought to have been overseeing the work.

‘It is clear there is fault on both sides, both by LUL for failing to ensure that Mr Elkington carried out the work in a safe and appropriate way, and on Mr Elkington’s part for failing to ensure the work was carried out safely.

‘

But although LUL were at fault, Elkington was best placed to ensure safety rules were being followed.

‘The buck stopped with him so far as work on the ground was concerned.

‘The fact is he knew that the working methods that he was using were unsafe and dangerous in many ways, yet he continued with them over a long period of time.

‘Not once, knowing they were unsafe did he go back to his immediate bosses and say, ‘These are unsafe working methods, whe should adopt a different
system.

‘Rather it was the reverse, he seems to have decided exactly how he wanted the work to be carried out and LUL did not seem to have a care for the way
that he did it.

‘

Detailing the five allegations he faces, Mr Ageros said that in Debden, Essex, in 1998 Elkington’s team arrived but could not start work because the rail was still live.

‘The men waited in the car-park for the traction current to go off, but Elkington arrived and began to shout at the Protection Master [responsible
for protection of the men’s safety] asking why the men were not working.

‘

Although Elkington was told they were waiting for the ‘juice’ to go off he said it ‘didn’t matter as the last train had gone’.

Elkington then overruled the protection master’s objections and demanded the men start working.

Mr Ageros continued: ‘They did and having been on the track a short while the shout went up that a train was coming and the men had to quickly evacuate the track.

‘Even after that the men were directed to carry on working even though the current had not gone off – it was also still raining.

‘

Two workers, Tony Wellington, and Charles Bandadin complained to their workmates

‘The next day Mr Elkington summoned them to his office and they were summarily dismissed’.

The men complained to a senior LUL manager, who also did nothing, it was alleged.

‘A culture seems to have built up where people did not complain about their working conditions knowing that complaint would be futile and fearing they
might lose their jobs in the same way Mr Wellington and Mr Bandadin had.

‘

On 23 October 1999, Elkington’s work overran its allotted time.

He appointed workmen to act as lookouts.

‘Unfortunately they did not have the equipment necessary to carry the task out properly, namely a whistle, flats and an armband,’ said Mr Ageros.

‘They simply had to rely on their voices to warn people of oncoming trains.

‘A train did in fact come and the driver was astonished to see people working on the track without there having been any proper warning.

‘

In November 1999 at the Hainault depot men were again working on live track ‘and some actually received shocks from the live rails,’ Mr Ageros said.

The lookout, Stuart Thompson, had never been a lookout before and was equipped only with a whistle.

‘On the second night he was around the corner from where the men were working and they in fact went home without him knowing it.

‘That may give you an indication of how effective a lookout he was.

‘

At Loughton Sidings, the week after, Elkington had his men working in the rain, without the station supervisor knowing they were there.

‘One of the men, Mark Plunkett, received a shock which caused his arms to tingle,’ said the prosecutor.

‘He went to King George’s Hospital where he was connected to a heart monitor for three and a half hours.

‘

A workman Rakesh Kapoor blew the whistle on Elkington when he complained of unsafe conditions at Loughton Sidings to HSE inspector Phil Crombie on 29
November, 1999.

Mr Crombie inspected the site – Loughton Sidings – and observed the current was still on.

As he thought this was dangerous he said all work should cease – and served a ‘Prohibition notice’ ordering all work cease.

When Mr Crombie phoned Elkington on his mobile, he lied to say the work was an emergency, it was alleged.

After this happened, LUL issued a notice on December 1 forbidding Elkington to allow work to go on.

For a while Elkington followed the rules, Mr Ageros said.

But on 18 January the men were required to work on live track at Loughton Sidings because the last train had been delayed.

‘It was cold and the track was frosty, bringing the real risk that people might slip.

‘This seems to have been a matter of sheer impatience on his part.

– he couldn’t wait to get the men working.

No juice mats were used.

‘

Elkington was then sacked and LUL carried out an internal investigation.

Elkington contacted some of the workers to get them to say that ‘the juice had not been on,’ Mr Ageros said.

‘A false statement which Mr Elkington had made was passed around and the men were encouraged to agree with it,’ said Mr Ageros.

In an interview with HSE in March 2000 Elkington claimed ‘he did not feel that he had been doing anything wrong.

‘

He admitted writing that work in sidings should be with written permission.

He also said he thought juice mats were enough portection for the men.

Elkington said the reason he never stopped for rain was because the work had to be completed by the morning.

‘

Elkington, of Heath Road, Lymington, Hants, denies five breaches of the Health and Safety at work act between April 1998 and 18 January 2000.

London Underground has pleaded guilty to six breaches of Health and Safety regulations during the same period.

The trial continues.

mfls
ends

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