EDF road rogues fined
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
23/09/2008
Rogue utilities companies have been given a stark warning to be strict about safety after one the UK’s biggest energy providers was fined for risking pedestrians’ lives.
EDF Energy Ltd was fined £4,280 and ordered to pay Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council £2,157 in costs after it pleaded guilty to failing to provide reasonable safety precautions in place for pedestrians when carrying out improvement works.
At West London Magistrates Court on September 2, District Judge Andrew Sweet heard how H&F Council inspectors visited two sites – Scrubs Lane in the north of the borough, and Uxbridge Road in Shepherds Bush – in December last year, only to find that safety regulations were not being followed.
EDF’s contractor Skanska McNicholas had dug up pavements on Scrubs Lane, creating a 30-metre long crater. But there were no diversions in place and pedestrians found themselves having to walk into a busy road into oncoming traffic to pass the trench. The site was also on a hill and on a blind corner.
Barriers surrounding the site had fallen over, providing little protection around the excavation, and the nearest safe crossing points were about 735 metres in one direction and 125 metres in the other. However there were no signs to warn either pedestrians or motorists of the closed footpath ahead.
Despite being asked on several occasions to make the pavement safe, it took three days before proper safety measures were installed. For this EDF were fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay a victim’s surcharge of £15 within 21 days. The council was awarded £1,344 in costs.
EDF contractors had already overlooked safety precautions on Uxbridge Roadthe previous week (December 7) when they failing to adequately cordon off their work site on the pavement while using electric machinery, forcing pedestrians to walk into the main road unguarded. EDF was fined £250, along with a £15 victim surcharge, and ordered to pay £813 in costs to the council within 28 days.
Deputy leader of H&F Council, and cabinet member for environment, Nicholas Botterill, said: “EDF repeatedly ignored safety laws, leaving both pedestrians and motorists open to serious harm, and it is a miracle that no one was injured or even killed.
“Some of these big utility companies act as if they are above the law. They need to take responsibility for their actions when they’re digging up our streets.”
