NETWORK Rail will go on trial over an accident that left one of its workers dead and two others seriously injured as they fixed overhead power cables.
Malcolm Slater, 64, from Harold Wood, died when he and two other colleagues fell 15ft on to the track in Margaretting after the metal basket they were in broke away from the hydraulic arm of a vehicle holding it up.
The men were working on the cable after a train from Liverpool Street brought the power line down.
On Tuesday, Chelmsford Magistrates' Court ruled that the incident, which happened in June 2008, should go before a crown court.
Network Rail is charged with three offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act after the prosecution was brought by the Office of Rail Regulation.
The rail firm is accused of failing to ensure that the equipment used to lift the employees was suitable or could support their weight and the weight of their tools.
It is also said to have failed to ensure that the men and their supervisors had written instructions on how to use work equipment. And lastly it is accused of failing to guarantee that all persons who used, or supervised the use, of equipment had received adequate health and safety training.
Mr Slater's two colleagues – Phil Miles and Daniel Wild – were later said to be office-bound as a result of their injuries, and an inquest into Mr Slater's death in October 2010 returned a verdict of accidental death.
After the accident he was taken to Queen's Hospital in Romford with spinal injuries but died 20 days later, on July 1, 2008.
A plea and case management hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court has now been scheduled for November 26.
