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You are here: Home → Accident Zone → Employers putting young people at risk → Electrical burns

Electrical burns 20.04.2006

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A railway track maintenance worker aged 24 received electrical burns while loosening nuts on track adjacent to a live 650-volt conductor rail. The rail maintenance company had failed to provide him with an insulated running spanner, or an insulating trough (used to cover an electrified section of track close to where someone is working). This was a potentially fatal accident. If he had been given the correct information and insulated equipment to work with, he would not have been hurt.

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EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
"Our message is that we all share responsibility for protecting young people at work. Employers have a duty of care and are legally responsible for the health and safety of their workers, and EU law recognises that young people need special protection. But this is also an issue for parents, for health and safety professionals, and for the education community. And ultimately, it's an issue for policymakers. We all have to work together, to make sure that young people have a safe and healthy start to their working lives."

Vladimír Špidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities