kings cross fire 1987 corporate manslaughter
[13] Staff and a policewoman trapped on a Metropolitan line platform were rescued by a train. London Fire Brigade were not met on arrival (indeed, there was no agreed rendezvous point) and they were unsure of the station layout. An escalator shaft led down to the Victoria line and another led down to the Piccadilly line, and from that to the Northern line. 1987 fire in King's Cross St Pancras tube station, London, England, A police car, three fire engines and an ambulance outside King's Cross. The Volunteen program offers Brea teens, grades 9th - 11th, an opportunity to gain leadership skills & work experience while volunteering for various city departments. After all, Underground staff have become accustomed escalator fires, with 46 recently and a total of 400 fires since 1956, each put down as a smouldering. Section 1 of the Act sets out that an organisation is guilty of manslaughter, "if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person's death.". The inquiry attributed the tragedy to design faults, human errors and unsafe working conditions. The inquiry found that the body corporate was infected by the disease of sloppiness.. In the last 30 years, Ive heard this conclusion echoed in many other disasters. While the investigation into the fire is still ongoing, and criminal liability (if any) for the fire has yet to be established, its still always worth taking a look at the offence of corporate manslaughter and its history. Section 1 of the Act sets outthat an organisation is guilty of manslaughter, if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a persons death.. It became law in 2008 when the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force. Mr Brody crawled along the ground, unable to breathe as the intensely hot air burned his throat. [56], The Nick Lowe song "Who Was That Man?" Sir Desmond Fennell's report into the fire said all the evidence suggested Mr Townsley had been "overcome by smoke and fumes while trying to help the burned passenger" in what he described as a "heroic act". kings cross fire 1987 corporate manslaughter. by ; July 3, 2022 The role of the Regulator was considered by the Inquiry: in this case the Railway Inspectorate. In addition, the running track of the escalator had not been cleaned since the 1940s and was covered in grease and filled with rubbish. Investigators labelled this behaviour of the flames lying down in the escalator the 'trench effect'. What is Corporate Manslaughter and How Does it Work? [20] The three escalators for the Piccadilly line had to be completely replaced, the new ones being commissioned on 27 February 1989, more than 16months after the fire. [11] This trapped below ground several hundred people, who escaped on Victoria line trains. A further person died later in hospital. We look to shine a light on issues not cast heat. Among those caught up in the fireball was Soho's Station Officer Colin Townsley, who had entered the underground with a colleague, Temporary Sub-Officer Roger Bell, of Clerkenwell Fire Station, to assess the situation. A collapsible lattice gate often used in Tube stations, old style, "Safety fears linger, decade after Kings Cross fire", The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, "Solved after 16 years the mystery of victim 115", "How the final King's Cross fire victim was identified", "A Report for Dr A. Buchanan Dept. Although small to begin with, described . Since 2010, its also been possible to order companies to take out adverts publicising the fact they have been convicted. There were many lost opportunities to exchange vital information between London Underground and the Fire Brigade; as well as between the fire, police and ambulance services. July 3, 2022 stonewood grill blue cheese chips recipe lucozade pricing strategy. Surprisingly, no organisational charts existed they had to be created for the investigation. This match finds fertile territory along the running rail responding so smoothly to revolutions of the winding engine. After all, two Tube trains, not one, swept through the Kings Cross Piccadilly line tunnel at precisely 7.42pm on the night. He joined them, heading up an escalator back into the ticket hall from the underground platform. The inquiry opened on 1 February 1988 at Central Hall, Westminster, and closed on 24 June, after hearing 91 days of evidence. Why do children set fires and signs to watch out for. The preparation of a safety case is paid for by the operator, and said operator must also meet HSEs costs in assessing and approving it. ", 1987: King's Cross station fire 'kills 27', www.railwaysarchive.co.uk-documents-DoT_KX1987.pdf, 'I was pregnant when my partners heart stopped. (Twenty years later, following several suicide bombs on London Underground trains, the same communications issues were raised). [18], Thirty-one people died in the fire and 100 people were taken to hospital,[19] 19 with serious injuries. . Plans to be kept outside stations in locations agreed with the Brigade. "He was in good hands and there was still screaming down below, so back in again we went.". Is firefighting the right career for you? Above the ground, Sophie Tarassenko had been in the area meeting a friend when she saw the fire engines. In August 1987, a few months before the disaster, an internal London Underground memo (below) recognised that a proactive approach to safety management was required. Piper Alpha was the worlds worst offshore oil disaster to date in terms of people killed and impact to industry, claiming the lives of 167 men and leaving only 62 survivors. However, no public address system is working and worried passengers are still using the Victoria up escalator, only a matter of yards away. Energy Voice 2023. Do you challenge the assumptions that you make? We also pay tribute to the firefighters who bravely fought the blaze which was, undoubtedly, the biggest challenge any of them would ever face, it said. Do you question the way that you do things? Piper Alpha was a catalyst for change to the health and safety regime offshore. There was also little liaison between the Inspectorate and the London Fire Brigade. Lord Cullens report introduced the safety-case regime, which is laid down in a series of offshore-specific regulations. Daemonn Brody, who had moved to London five days earlier to start a new job, was on his way to see the Regent Street Christmas lights. Then there was the 1988 Piper Alpha Oil rig disaster in which 167 died. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is still the principal statute governing health and safety offshore, but is now supplemented by the offshore-specific regulations created post-Piper Alpha. Nobody could reproduce the flashover. Companies could be prosecuted for a range of health and safety offences, and individuals within an organisation could be charged with the offence of gross negligence manslaughter. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, NextSaturday, 18 November, marks the 30th anniversary of the Kings Cross fire. The creation of the offence of corporate manslaughter was a significant development and aimed to hold to account corporations which didnt care for the welfare of their staff and others. So what brought on the change in the law? The report revealed that nearly 60% of the plants were below an acceptable level of safety and 16% of them were failing to comply with legislation. Of crucial importance, the emergency services were again criticised for having no radios or telephones below street level able to transmit a message more than 500 yards. Another rescuer this time in a tunnel far below the blaze kicks and wrenches at the padlocked iron gate that blocks off Midland City, as it was then known, dampening is his only hope of saving the casualty in his charge. GUEST ARTICLE: Why are UK construction workers reluctant to take sick days? Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Thirty years since the King's Cross fire claimed the lives of 31 people, BBC News talks to survivors of the tragedy. The sanction for breach of the 1974 act or its regulations is usually a fine (or imprisonment in the case of individual liability), although the HSE can issue prohibition or improvement notices as an alternative. The introduction of the safety case was perhaps one of his most important recommendations because an installation cannot operate unless it has a Health and Safety Executive (HSE)-approved safety case. [32], This test confirmed the initial eyewitness reports up to that point, but four expert witnesses could not agree as to how the small fire flashed over, with some concern that the paint used on the ceiling had contributed to the fire. This advice was not taken and the Underground continued with a two-stage procedure (i.e. Northern Star Business Awards: All the winners from this years ceremony, Exclusive: Outcry as wind body creates roadblock to oil worker skills passport, EnerMech appoints Spenceley as OIM and asset management director, Last call for UK evacuation from Port Sudan, Shell is selling its stake in Australian gas project to BP, Impact raises cash to stay in the game offshore Namibia. These stretchers also carry several firefighters overcome with smoke inhalation and exhaustion. There was also the 1987 Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster in which 193 people died. However, this sprinkler system caused high levels of corrosion and so became disused. lightning strikes frisco tx kings cross fire 1987 corporate manslaughter. How do you know that your emergency response will be effective when its needed. King's Cross St Pancras tube station has subsurface platforms for the Metropolitan, Circle, and Hammersmith & City lines. As well as the mainline railway stations above ground . Attempts had been made to prosecute for manslaughter for deaths arising from disasters, for example following the Hatfield and Southall rail crashes, but all such attempts had failed. Almost immediately after the Kings Cross disaster, smoking was scheduled for prohibition everywhere on the Underground, something that entered into law as part of a brace of fire safety regulations in 1989. Want to know more about your rights at work? However, smokers often ignored this and lit cigarettes on the escalators on their way out. The King's Cross fire was a fire in 1987 at a London Underground station with 31 fatalities, after a fire under a wooden escalator suddenly spread into the underground ticket hall in a flashover.. The firefighters underground had no means of communicating with their colleagues on the surface. What can you learn from the Nimrod disaster? A publicinquiry by Sir Desmond Fennell published in November 1988, made 157 recommendations including: More than 150 firefighters and 30 fire engines were called to a blaze at King's Cross station at on the evening of 18 November 1987. Instead, the Piccadilly escalator catches fire, and in the next six minutes four London Fire Brigade trucks arrive, along with several hoses and a turntable ladder. [40] Wooden panelling was to be removed from escalators, heat detectors and sprinklers were to be fitted beneath escalators, and the radio communication system and station staff emergency training were to be improved. "The problem we faced was that the St Pancras entrance seemed to be directly fed up from the Piccadilly Line escalators," Mr Button said. However, painting protocols were not in his purview, and his suggestion was widely ignored by his colleagues. Navigation Menu kings cross fire 1987 corporate manslaughter. Unfortunately that wasnt the case. Significant improvements have been made in the UK offshore industry since Piper Alpha. While the events of July 6, 1988, will be well known to the majority of people in the Scottish north-east, there is now a whole generation entering the oil&gas industry who were not even born at the time of the disaster. There was considerable delay before staff notified Station management. Meanwhile, it was over to the Atomic Energy Authority to remodel Kings Cross Underground station using the relatively new invention of computer simulation. This approach was quite possibly ahead of its time Ive seen many recent investigations that have taken a less mature approach. Firefighters' equipment and uniforms have also undergone drastic changes. The network carried two and a half million passengers every weekday. The ticket hall for the three tube lines was reopened in stages over four weeks. Protective gear worn by firefighters at King's Cross included yellow plastic leggings that melted under intense heat and red rubber gloves, which gave limited movement. The trench effect and eruptive wildfires: lessons from the King's Cross Underground disaster. The researchers had one last throw of the dice. [55], Soon after the fire a commemoration service was held at St Pancras Church. Dropped matches ignited the contaminated grease and the fire began spreading. In supplying glazed components to the frontage of the new Kings Cross, as well as a safe evacuation route from the main administrative areas, we have brought a wealth of experience and expertise from other UK transport infrastructure projects, as well as overseas contract in Hong Kong and Dubai. Read about our approach to external linking. Could the artificial pumping of air through a full-sized tunnel work, researchers wondered? Although small to begin with, described by one firefighter as "about the size of a large cardboard box", itbecame more serious quickly. It was a small company and negligence was easily . A further person died later in hospital. If this controlling mind was not personally guilty of gross negligence manslaughter, then the company wouldnt be guilty of the offence, however poor their institutional health and safety procedures. It was assumed that any fire would be detected by staff or passengers. The fire began at approximately 19:30 on 18 November 1987 at King's Cross St Pancras tube station,[1] a major interchange on the London Underground. The industry must be very careful not to put profit before safety. Martin has over 30 years experience of applying human and organisational factors in high-hazard industries and complex systems. The safety case must be sent to the HSE and approved at least six months before operations commence. One November evening in 1987, a deadly fire broke out at King's Cross, London's busiest Underground station. Desmond Fennell, QC, from the Inquiry, concluded that It is my view that a disaster was foreseeable. Under more modern legislation, and with more pro-active police, there would almost certainly have been grounds for charges of gross negligence; even corporate manslaughter. Director jailed. Indeed, many people believe that the possibility of such a disaster has diminished over the last 20 years. Learn more. In its 124-year history there had never been mass loss of life in a fire on the London Underground. Finally, Id like to note that the Inquiry recognised the dedication of response teams, especially the London Fire Brigade: It is clear that a large number of members of the London Fire Brigade behaved with conspicuous courage and devotion to duty during the disaster in which they lost a very brave officer, Station Officer Townsley. Their response to the incident was uncoordinated and haphazard. Posted on . (Although smoking had been banned in all subsurface stations since a fire at Oxford Circus in 1984, people often lit cigarettes on their way up the escalators on their way out of the station.). Many passengers escaped using an alternative escalator and all trains had been instructed not to stop at the station, however, the ticket hall was still busy with the last of the evening's rush hour crowd when the fireball erupted from the stairwell. A smoking ban was enforced, wooden escalators were removed, staff were trained in rigorous fire safety plans, and, more recently, communications between Underground staff and emergency services have been greatly improved. Unfortunately, whilst working for the UK HSE, I investigated several major fires some with fatalities that had similarities with this event, particularly regarding emergency response. 6. The previous prescriptive approach to health and safety was thought to have conditioned people to think of health and safety as a matter of compliance rather than of taking responsibility and assessing tasks on their merits. Introduction to human factors & work psychology. Communications with the general public were woefully inadequate throughout the incident the Public Address system was not used and many passengers were evacuated into the line of fire. Piper Alpha was the world's worst offshore oil disaster to date in terms of people killed and impact to industry, claiming the lives of 167 men and leaving only 62 survivors. Kings Cross itself refused to disappear from the news agenda. The time shown by the clock at the top of the escalator read 7:45pm the exact moment when the flames burnt through its wiring. [15] Fourteen London Ambulance Service ambulances ferried the injured to local hospitals, including University College Hospital. [59], Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit discusses how bad corporate culture and inefficient management led to the disaster at King's Cross. LRTs parsimonious gesture was, surely, the ultimate insult; not least its response to the most badly burned of all Kings Cross survivors, Kwasi Afari Minta. He declared that their staff were frequently uncoordinated, haphazard and untrained. [38] Staff were expected to send for the LFB only if the fire was out of control, dealing with it themselves if possible. He condemned a complacent and ineffectual Underground management team as blinkered and dangerously self-sufficient. The computer modelling of the fluid flow of the fire helped to substantially advance the science of fire dynamics, using computational stimulation to look at how fires behave, with an emphasis on smoke and heat movement from their source. ux engineer interview questions google; what does gauge mean in gold chains. Investigators were able to replicate that dreadful quarter-hour in its entirety, including the sudden release of poisonous gases within the highly restricted space of an Underground station. Then the flashover. The Station Operations Room was no longer staffed, contributing to a lack of communications and control. With the coming into force of the 2007 act, companies (and, in particular, directors) should ensure that they are well prepared by doing all that they can to comply with all existing health and safety legislation, approved codes of practice, guidance and regulations, as failure to comply may be taken into consideration by a jury in reaching a decision of corporate manslaughter. In the 30 years before this disaster, there had been over 400 escalator fires on the Underground system, many of these due to discarded matches. [45], By 1997, the majority of the recommendations of the Fennell report had been implemented, with safety improvements including the removal of any hazardous materials, CCTV fitted in stations, installation of fire alarms and sensors and the issuing of personal radios to staff. Criminally, and extremely reluctantly, London Regional Transport (LRT) offered a derisory 4.5m to compensate bereaved families and survivors. After all, the pit of that escalator has probably never been cleaned during its 44-year life. It became law in 2008 when the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007came into force. The Kings Cross fire that claimed the lives of 31 people lead to better fire safety regulation and helped companies like Wrightstyle gain a better understanding of an unknown dynamic in how a small fire can become a conflagration. It seems to me that the staff were totally unprepared to meet the disaster which happened that night and had to do the best they could in the circumstances. Complexity simplified with BMI Icopals Torch-on system. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. While Fennell was sitting, the well-remunerated, not necessarily well-regarded Keith Bright was curiously tight-lipped, to the point where he left his director of planning to do much of the explaining. It is estimated that more than 1billion was invested in safety measures in the immediate aftermath of Piper Alpha. The Inquiry concluded that if the financial state of a company can be assessed by a financial audit, then the state of safety can be similarly established by a safety audit. [28] The inquiry found that the fire was most probably caused by a traveller discarding a burning match that fell down the side of the moving staircase on to the running track of the escalator. Even so, many known activists and informants were interviewed by police right up until the spring of 1988. This was seen as a way of encouraging a safer (and more safety-conscious) culture offshore as it involves continuous self-monitoring and safety assessment. Lyme Bay disaster, 1993. [5] The fire was beneath the escalator and was impossible to reach by use of a fire extinguisher. The information provided may require tailoring to ensure that it is suitable and appropriate for application to your specific circumstances. Disasters like the Kings Cross Fire are foreseeable; complacency and assumptions can kill; you get the system that you design and staff have to be prepared to respond, should the worst happen. Published by at February 16, 2022. The immediate cause of the fire was a discarded match falling onto wooden escalators with an accumulation of debris underneath and in the escalator tracks. Corporate manslaughter is a relatively new offence. COMPREHENSIVE. The quote below has been referred to many times since, and neatly sums up the importance of these wider organisational issues: We do not see what happened on the night of 18 November 1987 as being the fault of those in humble places. 2023 BBC. PC Stephen Hanson, British Transport Police officer speaking at the subsequent inquiry. Type of Entity: Corporation. That generation will eventually be responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of offshore installations and, as such, they must appreciate the lessons from Piper Alpha and the importance of each of their individual contributions to health and safety. There was no longer any need to show that a single senior individual was personally guilty of manslaughter. By 8pm, a fleet of 14 London ambulances is ferrying 100 injured survivors to local hospitals, principally University College. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? She had no idea her 25-year-old brother Ivan, who she describes as a "laid-back, happy-go-lucky chap", was inside the Tube station. Improvement to the Brigade's radio communications between firefighters below ground. In other words, 18 years of potential rewiring had been totally wasted. Many people are surprised to hear that, despite the enormity of the incident, no prosecutions were ever brought as a result of the tragedy. The program is designed to introduce teens to the world of public service. [20], LFB Station Officer Colin Townsley was in charge of the first pump fire engine to arrive at the scene, and was in the ticket hall at the time of the flashover. What is the Firesetters Intervention Scheme? Witnesses recalled seeing a firefighter wearing a white helmet just before the flashover telling passengers to get out. [36] When the wooden treads of the escalator flashed over, the size of the fire increased dramatically and a sustained jet of flame was discharged from the escalator tunnel into the model ticket hall. London Underground was strongly criticised for its attitude toward fires; staff were complacent because there had never been a fatal fire on the system, and had been given little or no training to deal with fires or evacuation. After seven-and-a-half minutes of normal burning, the flames lay down as in the computer simulation. [17] On a television program about the fire, an official described King's Cross underground station's layout as "an efficient furnace". In particular, the danger from smoke inhalation had been ignored. It is believed that Townsley spotted the passenger in difficulty and stopped to help her. Management considered fires to be inevitable. London Thames News, originally broadcast on 10 November 1988, following the launch of the Fennell report into the Kings Cross disaster: London BBC News, broadcast 30 years after the Kings Cross Fire: By entering your email you will be notified of any new articles on humanfactors101.com. It started in a machine room under a wooden escalator and turned into a huge fireball that engulfed the ticket hall and filled it with smoke. Crews found the body of Station Officer Townsley beside the badly burned body of a passenger at the steps leading up to the Pancras Road entrance of the station. The King's Cross fire that claimed the lives of 31 people lead to better fire safety regulation and helped companies like Wrightstyle gain a better understanding of an unknown dynamic in how a small fire can become a conflagration. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, Solved at last - the mystery of victim 115, Sir Desmond Fennell's report into the fire, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Four dead after suspected pigeon racer dispute, Adidas sued by investors over Kanye West deal, UK chip giant Arm files for blockbuster share sale, US bank makes last ditch bid to find rescuer, US principal visits David sculpture after nudity row. They rebuilt the entire Kings Cross booking hall in a rented farmers field adjacent to their Buxton facility. In 1988, Lord Cullen was appointed to chair the official public inquiry, the aim of which was to review the causes of the disaster and to make recommendations for reforms to prevent further catastrophes. [46], London Underground was also recommended by the Fennell Report to investigate "passenger flow and congestion in stations and take remedial action". There was water fog equipment, but staff had not been trained in its use. Corporate manslaughter is a relatively new offence. The latest figures from the Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI), published in April, reveal builders merchants value sales were up +0.8% in February 2023 in comparison to the same month in 2022. On that fateful day 31lives were lost and 100 people wereinjured. Years in Business: 26. Business Started: 8/6/1996. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? It would seem that, despite the changes introduced over the last 20 years, there is still more to be done to address safety issues offshore. No single person was charged with overall responsibility for safety. Brea Police Dept. So how did it start? The Law Commission produced a report on involuntary manslaughter in 1996 and in 2000 the government introduced a consultation paper. Wrightstyle,Unit 2&7 Banda Trading Estate,Nursteed Road,Devizes,United Kingdom,SN10 3DY. It was allowed to burn for nine minutes before being extinguished. The musician, whose only errand that day was to purchase a few vinyl records, suffered horrific burns after his clothes set alight, and was left with terrible scarring and no employment prospects despite his 30 trips to the operating theatre. martinanderson.com Thirty years on from the King's Cross disaster, Wrightstyle's managing director, Tim Kemppster, remembers the tragedy and the redevelopment of the station. It was also assumed that there would be sufficient time to evacuate. Lord Cullens report, however, favoured a goal-setting approach to legislation. [47] Consequently, parliamentary bills were tabled to permit London Underground to improve and expand the busiest and most congested stations, such as London Bridge, Tottenham Court Road, Holborn and King's Cross St Pancras. A woman was treated on scene by London Ambulance Service crews. The end result matched the eyewitness accounts of the fire, but the simulation's depiction of the fire burning parallel to the 30 slope of the escalator was thought by some to be unlikely and it was suspected that the programming might be faulty. The nearly-life-expired Northern line escalators were replaced as well; the Northern line station reopened, completing the return to normal operation, on 5 March 1989. [43] Smoking was banned in all London Underground stations, including on the escalators, on 23 November, five days after the fire. It took many years, but more than a quarter of Fennells propositions were implemented. Technically, organisations could face the same manslaughter charges as individuals, but it was tricky: the prosecution would first have to show that a senior individual within it, who embodied the company, was guilty of the offence. The Inquiry stated that there was a general failure to appreciate the severity of the disaster and therefore a failure to act with the appropriate sense of urgency. It is unfortunate that this was not the pervading view in the organisation, otherwise the disaster may have been averted. We should call it what it is: Its corporate manslaughter. As fires were clearly not unusual, you may have expected a robust approach to incident response. Spark, spill, candle, bonfire: no flame is too small to rage out of control. Fuelled by a build-up of grease and dust inside the wooden escalator, the fire spread until smoke began to spew from under the steps and out into the main concourse.
