:00:00. > :00:00.confiscated and destroyed, well, that must be galling. Will Gompertz,
:00:07. > :00:12.Good evening. A rail worker who was hit by a train
:00:13. > :00:16.in Saxilby near Lincoln died as a result of a string of broken and
:00:17. > :00:19.ignored safety procedures. That was the finding of a Rail Accident
:00:20. > :00:25.Investigation Branch report into the death of 26`year`old Scott Dobson,
:00:26. > :00:29.who was killed in December 2012. It adds to concerns about the lack of
:00:30. > :00:33.safety precautions for thousands of casual rail workers. Paul Murphy
:00:34. > :00:38.reports. This is an industry which, by its
:00:39. > :00:42.very nature, is hazardous. But is safety taken seriously enough? It is
:00:43. > :00:49.December 2012, early in the afternoon on a railway line near
:00:50. > :00:53.Saxilby in Lincolnshire. A gang of workers are repairing the track. One
:00:54. > :00:59.of the workers steps back just as a train is passing. He doesn't
:01:00. > :01:01.survive. Network Rail called the death of Scott Dobson a watershed
:01:02. > :01:09.moment, and promised new safety rules. Scott had been hired that day
:01:10. > :01:14.by an agency. Many in the industry say safety is compromised by the use
:01:15. > :01:17.of such casual staff. We have spoken to track workers who have done
:01:18. > :01:21.casual shifts for renewals companies across the North of England. They
:01:22. > :01:26.tell us bad safety practices are widespread. I lost work with one
:01:27. > :01:31.client, one agency, for a year because I wouldn't do work that
:01:32. > :01:35.wasn't safe. More than a year on, Scott's family still has questions
:01:36. > :01:40.about the safety of the gang on that day at Saxilby. Why were they there
:01:41. > :01:47.when they knew, all that gang, that somebody would have been in danger?
:01:48. > :01:52.81,000 people are registered to work on railway. Only a quarter of them
:01:53. > :01:55.are Network Rail staff. Scott Dobson's death has forced the
:01:56. > :02:00.company to rethink the way they manage this workforce. We will no
:02:01. > :02:04.longer expect safety`critical workers to be employed by agency
:02:05. > :02:07.contracts. They will only be employed by Network Rail or our
:02:08. > :02:12.principal contractors. We need to make sure this is the last fatality,
:02:13. > :02:16.and we will make sure any changes to ensure that is the case. Scott had
:02:17. > :02:19.been hired that day by a recruitment company called sky`blue, a
:02:20. > :02:25.subsidiary of the engineering giant Carillion. They tell us they are
:02:26. > :02:28.unable to comment on specific questions or issues related to
:02:29. > :02:34.Scott's death until after an inquest and further enquiry. They do however
:02:35. > :02:37.say that they go to great lengths to ensure their workforce know they can
:02:38. > :02:43.raise safety concerns, and that these will be acted upon. Since the
:02:44. > :02:49.incident, they say, they have gone beyond industry standards to put in
:02:50. > :02:52.place new safety procedures. Network Rail has said that by September,
:02:53. > :02:56.many of its new safety reforms will be in place ` too late for Scott's
:02:57. > :02:58.family, but aimed at preventing a repeat of the terrible events which
:02:59. > :03:09.took his life. Paul is out on the rail network this
:03:10. > :03:16.evening. Paul, do you think there will be genuine safety improvements
:03:17. > :03:22.as a result of Scott Dobson's death? The who you talk to. It is the view
:03:23. > :03:27.of the union that there are still far too many casual staff working on
:03:28. > :03:32.our Railways, still too many short`term contracts. Not enough
:03:33. > :03:39.emphasis on health and safety on the job, or run the Railways. The
:03:40. > :03:43.current `` company could not disagree more. They say that his
:03:44. > :03:47.death was a watershed moment, that they have reviewed all of their
:03:48. > :03:51.procedures. Their permanent members of staff are now in charge of safety
:03:52. > :03:55.when it comes to track renewal jobs, and they are hoping and doing
:03:56. > :04:01.everything they can to prevent this happening again. Thank you.
:04:02. > :04:03.A 33`year`old man's been arrested after armed police cordoned off a
:04:04. > :04:07.Lincolnshire village. An armed response unit was sent to the High
:04:08. > :04:10.Street in Ruskington after reports of an armed man inside a flat.
:04:11. > :04:25.Trained negotiators persuaded the suspect to come out peacefully.
:04:26. > :04:28.Parents in East Yorkshire are being told that their children could still
:04:29. > :04:31.attend school, even if they have an infectious illness. Conjunctivitis,
:04:32. > :04:34.tonsillitis and hand, foot and mouth are classed as "minor ailments" in a
:04:35. > :04:37.leaflet being made available across the county. Caroline Bilton reports.
:04:38. > :04:41.They can't be happy and healthy all the time ` but on the days when
:04:42. > :04:44.they're sick, should they be here? In the East Riding of Yorkshire,
:04:45. > :04:48.parents have been given this leaflet to help them make that decision. In
:04:49. > :04:50.the list of reasons to not necessarily keep your child off
:04:51. > :04:56.school are contagious diseases like conjunctivitis, hand, foot and mouth
:04:57. > :04:58.disease, and tonsillitis. Especially conjunctivitis is very contagious,
:04:59. > :05:05.particularly the viral form, like pink eye. If you have a an outbreak
:05:06. > :05:09.of that in school, it is nasty. It can last ten days or a week. But
:05:10. > :05:15.last year in secondary schools in England, 55% of authorised absences
:05:16. > :05:21.were due to illness. In the East Riding, that figure was 60% ` the
:05:22. > :05:24.second`highest in the country. The local authority says it's acting on
:05:25. > :05:29.advice from both the government and the NHS. The decision about sending
:05:30. > :05:32.a child to school remains with parents. We're not saying anything
:05:33. > :05:35.other than that. We want parents to use their intuition and judgement
:05:36. > :05:41.and common sense, because parents know their children best. Do you
:05:42. > :05:45.want a child with tonsillitis in the classroom? Obviously not. We have a
:05:46. > :05:49.duty of care to our staff and the other children at the school. We
:05:50. > :05:52.have a balancing act to do. We want children to maximise their time in
:05:53. > :05:55.school, and we don't want them to be here when they are infectious. My
:05:56. > :06:00.elder daughter suffers with earache quite a bit. I just think they are
:06:01. > :06:04.best off at home. ?? YELLOW You stay at home, nip it in the bud ` that's
:06:05. > :06:08.the end of it. If it is contagious, obviously, then the child should
:06:09. > :06:12.stay off to stop it spreading. Other than that, if they can keep going,
:06:13. > :06:16.it is best for them to do that. It may be just a day off here and
:06:17. > :06:19.there, but they do add up over a child's entire school life, and
:06:20. > :06:21.research shows it can affect academic achievement. The local
:06:22. > :06:24.authority hopes these latest guidelines will help parents think
:06:25. > :06:29.twice before keeping their child off school. Caroline Bilton, BBC Look
:06:30. > :06:33.North. Let's get a look at the weather now.
:06:34. > :06:34.Here's Paul Hudson with the forecast.
:06:35. > :06:40.It is fine at the moment, but rain is on the way. Tomorrow should
:06:41. > :06:43.brighten up quite nicely with some sunshine. In the early hours of the
:06:44. > :06:47.morning, the rain will move into western areas. It won't give a great
:06:48. > :06:50.deal of rain. It could still be hanging around towards the coast by
:06:51. > :06:53.the end of the night. Temperatures down to three degrees. Perhaps a
:06:54. > :06:56.damp start, particularly towards the Yorkshire coastline. The rain soon
:06:57. > :07:00.clears and brightens up with some sunshine, and just one or two
:07:01. > :07:03.showers. All in all, not a bad day. Temperatures close to the early
:07:04. > :07:06.February averages of seven degrees Celsius. Very unsettled on
:07:07. > :07:11.Wednesday. Showers or longer spots of rain. It improves again on
:07:12. > :07:14.Thursday. Fine and some sunshine. Just one or two showers. That is the
:07:15. > :07:25.forecast. That's all from the late team.
:07:26. > :07:26.Newsnight is on BBC Two with a story of a spokesman who they kidnap gang
:07:27. > :07:40.in Pakistan. That is all. Goodbye. Good evening. As you have just heard
:07:41. > :07:41.on your local forecast there