HS2 fire focus of BTS September lecture

The presentation by Align JV’s health, safety and well-being director, Neil Hancox, and TBM manager Shannon O’Keeffe will share the lessons learnt from the incident with the wider industry.

The fire occurred during construction of the down line Chiltern Tunnel on May 10 last year. At the start of a night shift, a purpose-built PSV carrying TBM shift workers was being driven into the tunnel when a fire started in the engine compartment. The PSV was approximately 2.6km from the entrance when it was stopped.

No-one was injured during the incident but three people working on the TBM about 4.1km into the tunnel spent more than 12 hours in a refuge chamber until it was safe to walk to the surface.

Since the incident, a review of emergency response has been conducted with emergency services and other agencies at strategic, tactical and operational levels to ensure all lessons learned have been captured.

The lecture will be held on September 14 at 18:00 (BST) at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. It will also be live streamed 

Non members are welcome to attend.