Staff were not supplied with bottled water on a trackside shift, said a reporter to CIRAS. 

A hand holding a clear plastic bottle of water outdoors on a sunny day.

Usually, someone signposts to staff where bottled water is or where to access drinking water. This didn’t happen on this shift. It’s important that trackside staff stay hydrated.

Cleshar Contract Services (Cleshar) investigated. Bottled drinking water is routinely bought and supplied to its sites. Four cases of water had been loaded onto the vehicle for the job. Cleshar sought feedback from the Controller of Site Safety (COSS), site supervisor, and several operatives all working on the site. 

The site supervisor had left two crates—96 bottles—of water in the welfare unit. The two crates left elsewhere on site had run out by midday. Neither the COSS nor supervisor remember anyone asking for more from the welfare unit or raising concerns. Water was available during rest breaks. The operatives said they could eat and drink in the unit or leave site for lunch. The van returned to the depot with 35 bottles. 

Cleshar concluded that failure to communicate the location of the water caused the concern. There was no shortage and no failure in planning or organising. It has asked supervisors to say during pre-start briefings where drinking water is. It instructed its health and safety advisors to check the drinking water supply as part of inspections, too.

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