There were several deaths of employees working on the CTRL over the construction period. One occurred on 28 March 2003 near Folkestone when a worker came into contact with the energised power supply. Another death occurred two months later, in May 2003, when a scaffolder fell seven metres at Thurrock, Essex. Three companies were found guilty of breaching health and safety legislation by omitting to provide barriers, resulting in Deverson Direct Ltd. being ordered to pay a fine of £50,000, J.Murphy & Sons Ltd. £25,000, and Hochtief AG £25,000. Two more deaths resulted from a fire on board a train carrying wires, one mile () inside a tunnel under the Thames between Swanscombe, Kent, and Thurrock, Essex on 16 August 2005. The train shunter died at the scene and the train driver later died in hospital. It has been suggested that a large amount of blame for accidents throughout the project lay with individual behaviour, becoming such a problem that an internal programme was launched to tackle problem behaviour during the construction.
