HS2 bosses raised worries over contractors’ health and safety performance just months before a serious near-miss incident paused work on London tunnels, it has emerged.
Newly released minutes from a series of HS2 board meetings from 2025 show that five RIDDOR incidents took place across the line in February that year, prompting concern.
The minutes state that the incidents, details of which are not outlined, “required improved interventions to reinforce safety standards with the JVs”.
“Immediate steps were being taken to reinstitute the safety programme and commence quarterly executive safety review meetings,” they add.
But in June, the board heard there was a “consistent number” of lost-time incidents occurring and that “interventions were now being considered by management”.
A target score for a project health and safety performance index had been adjusted in the period before the meeting, but was proving “a stretch for the delivery partners”, according to HS2 construction delivery director Alan Morris, the papers state.
On 29 September a serious incident saw a beam strike a crane basket with two workers inside as a gantry crane was being dissembled at the Green Park Way vent shaft in west London.
The near miss saw all Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV) works stop in the capital pending a “comprehensive review of safety procedures”.
HS2 chief executive Mark Wild said at the time: “While no workers were physically harmed, our contractor, Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, is undertaking a comprehensive review of safety procedures and leadership on their sites before a safe restart can take place.”
Three weeks later, work restarted at three sites, with eight more resuming operations that week. Eight others were due to restart on a phased basis afterwards.
An HS2 spokesperson told Construction News this week that all sites did reopen and there was no impact on the overall programme schedule.
Meeting minutes from last March also show that the board decided to remove the project’s accident frequency rate from its key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.
Instead, it would be reported as part of management information rather than as a KPI.
The HS2 spokesperson said: “The safety of people on our work sites is our number one priority. HS2’s health and safety performance is industry-leading, but we continuously strive to strengthen our procedures.
“We recognise that construction work sites are inherently dangerous places and we cannot be complacent. This is why we take a zero-tolerance approach to incidents, as was demonstrated last October, when we actively intervened to instruct a pause of tunnelling works in London to collectively investigate, learn and improve procedures following an incident.
“It is precisely because we want to better monitor health and safety trends and reduce incident rates that we use the Health and Safety Performance Index (HSPI), which includes injury frequency weighting, since it better targets measurable and specific areas where we want to drive better performance into the supply chain.”
Earlier this week, CN revealed that the project was reviving its previously abandoned plan to remove spoil from its Euston site by rail, instead moving it by road.
It has since emerged that the process will begin in June, with material from ongoing human burial exhumations at nearby Cardington Street the first to be removed from the area.
Old Oak Common to Euston tunnelling work is set to begin early this year.
Minutes from a meeting of the Euston Partnership Board show a two-phase plan is proposed, with the first phase using existing rail track.
The second phase will be put into operation after a new railhead is installed and significant enabling works are carried out at Euston’s platform 16.
A business case and government approval are still required for the second phase work.
Funding for the Euston Station build is set to come from the private sector, but no source has been identified yet.
CN asked the Department for Transport about the status of planning of works at Euston and if it could potentially be built with the option to expand beyond six stations.
A spokesperson said: “We are working with key partners to develop plans for the Euston Station Campus, including looking at how we can keep the option open for HS2 services to expand in the future.
“We will share further details on the plan for Euston in due course.”
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Ian Weinfass