BAM Nuttall fined after 23-year-old man crushed to death at Shetland wind farm site in work accident

The mother of a young man crushed to death in a work accident has said her son was “full of hopes and dreams” and his family has been “robbed” of sharing in those with him.

Labourer Liam MacDonald, 23, was using a hammer to chip away dried concrete from a skip at a Shetland Islands wind farm site when its bale arm fell on top of him, pinning his chest.

Principal contractor BAM Nuttall has been fined a total of £860,000 after admitting health and safety breaches.

Mr MacDonald’s mum, Wendy Robson, said: “Liam loved life, his family and friends. He was just at the start of his adult life, still finding who he was, and full of hopes and dreams.

“We have been robbed of having Liam here today, and in all our tomorrows, and in sharing those dreams with him. We will never meet the children he so wanted to have one day.

“We can’t adequately describe who Liam was, and what he means to us. We love and miss him beyond words.”

The incident occurred at Viking Energy Wind Farm at Upper Kergord on the morning of 5 June 2022.

Mr MacDonald, from Tain in the Scottish Highlands, was an agency worker who had been working at the site for more than a month.

Colleagues performed CPR and administered a defibrillator, but Mr MacDonald was pronounced dead at the scene.

A court heard how the bale arm weighed 80kg.

Jackie Randell, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, concluded BAM Nuttall had failed to identify the risks of it falling and failed to put in place a safe system of work to ensure that anyone using, maintaining or cleaning the skip would be protected from harm.

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations at Inverness Sheriff Court earlier this month.

At Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday, it was fined £800,000 with a £60,000 victim surcharge.

Sheriff Ian Hay Cruickshank reduced the fine from £1.2m due to the timing of BAM Nuttall’s plea.

The sheriff stated: “It is necessary for me to impose a financial penalty that sends a message that companies must do all within their power to ensure safe working practices.

“That is the responsibility of not only those who manage a company. The duty extends to others including shareholders.”

Sheriff Cruickshank said Mr MacDonald had been instructed to carry out a task he had not done before, adding: “He was given no guidance or instruction.

“He was not supervised, and he was sent to the skip alone with no check immediately prior to commencing his task carried out on the security of the bale arm.”

The sheriff accepted the fatal accident “occurred as a result of oversight”.

He noted how BAM Nuttall has since reviewed procedures and implemented new measures to improve workplace safety.

The sheriff added: “I accept that their introduction would substantially reduce, if not eradicate, a reoccurrence of a similar incident.”

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Debbie Carroll, head of health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said Mr MacDonald’s death “could have been prevented” had the skip’s maintenance and cleaning risks been “suitable and sufficiently assessed”.

Ms Carroll added: “Their failure to identify the hazards represented by the skip’s bale arm and ensuring that it was secured prior to the cleaning operation beginning led to Mr MacDonald’s death.”

BAM Nuttall extended its “sincere condolences” to Mr MacDonald’s family and apologised for the circumstances which led to his death.

A spokesperson for the firm added: “We strive every day to ensure that all our staff work in a safe environment and we deeply regret that we failed Liam in June 2022.

“Safety is our priority and we are always reviewing our procedures and making continuous improvements.

“Immediately after Liam’s death we took steps to ensure that this incident would not be repeated, and we will continue to build on this learning going forward.”