Laverton Incident Shared Learnings

On the morning of Friday 2 October 2015, track workers were assembling track-side in Laverton, Victoria. They planned to undertake dogspike removal works in preparation for re-sleepering of a section of track on the Altona Loop Line.

At around 0910hrs, the supervisor for the works commenced marking the track to identify those dogspikes to be removed. He was working in a track crossover about 400m on the Melbourne side of Laverton Railway Station. A lookout had been stationed for his protection.

At about 0916, a Metro Trains Melbourne suburban commuter train arrived at Laverton station, bound for Flinders Street Station in central Melbourne. After its scheduled stop, the train departed Laverton and approached the worksite. The lookout observed the train, warned workers of its approach and signalled to the driver that the track was clear. However, as the train took the crossover, the supervisor was foul of the track, and was struck by the train that was travelling at about 59 km/h. The supervisor suffered serious injuries.

Since the incident, Metro have undertaken a program of initiatives to improve safety of those working in the rail corridor. One of these initiatives was to develop a series to toolbox talks to share learnings as a result of investigation into the incident with our employees and with industry.

• Toolbox Talks
• Facilitator Guides