§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents involving trains have occurred in each of the past five years as a result of people gaining access to the track through damaged fences. [18239]
§ Mr. Watts[holding answer 4 March 1997]: This information is not available in the form requested. However, appendix 8B of "Railway Safety—HM Chief Inspector of Railways' Annual Report on the safety record of the railways in Great Britain for 1995–96", gives statistics on the number of trespassers killed and injured for the past five years. The figures are included in the table:
717WThe report also highlights accidents to trespassers and measures the inspectorate, the industry and the British transport police are adopting to combat these accidents. Copies of the report are available in both Libraries of the House.
The state of fencing is not recorded as a contributory factor on the Health and Safety Executive's accident database. In addition, the state of the fencing is not always mentioned on the written notifications of incidents received by the HSE from railway operators. However, during any HSE investigations of incidents involving trespassers, and in particular incidents involving children, the condition of the fencing will be scrutinised closely and enforcement action taken should HSE consider the fencing to be inadequate.