In an interim report submitted by Tobu Railway on the accident in which 4 people were killed during vegetation-clearing work on the premises of Shin-Kanuma Station on the Tobu Nikko Line, the company said that the work supervisor at the site had not shared the lookout locations or evacuation points, and that the site manager had issued instructions instead. Confusion in the site chain of command was cited as one contributing factor.
Of the 7 people carrying out vegetation-clearing work at Shin-Kanuma Station in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, the 4 who remained on the tracks were struck and killed by an approaching train. The accident occurred at around 10:45 a.m. on 20 August, while the other 3 had evacuated to the platform or another location.
The workers on duty that day included employees of Tobu Construction and a subcontractor, while 3 people belonging to a security company served as train lookouts. The report said that the site work supervisor failed, in breach of the rules, to designate lookout locations or share evacuation points.
One of the 4 people killed was the work supervisor’s superior, who oversaw the entire vegetation-clearing operation as the site manager but was off duty and had not been scheduled to come to the site. The site manager is said to have instructed the lookouts and others, while the supervisor focused exclusively on taking photographs.
The train lookouts did not receive instructions from the site manager, and the work was not halted even after they reported that the train would arrive in 3 minutes. Another worker said, “You get angry if you express an opinion,” suggesting that the lack of an environment in which people could speak up at the site may have contributed to the accident.