An engineering company has been fined £800,000 following the tragic death of a young worker at a wind farm construction site on the Shetland Islands. Liam MacDonald, a 23-year-old from Tain, Ross-shire, lost his life while working on the Viking site in Upper Kergord on June 5, 2022.
MacDonald had been working as an agency labourer for just over a month when the incident occurred. On the morning of the accident, he was using a hammer to remove dried concrete from a skip when the skip’s bale arm fell on him, pinning him against his chest. Despite immediate CPR and the use of a defibrillator by colleagues, Mr MacDonald was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services.
Wendy Robson, Mr MacDonald’s mother, expressed the profound loss felt by the family. “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,” she said.
“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 love and miss him beyond words.”
Investigation Findings and Legal Outcome
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation, led by inspector Jackie Randell, found that the principal contractor, BAM Nuttall, failed to secure the bale arm properly and did not implement a safe system of work.
Randell said the company had been negligent in providing a safe place for its employees to work.
“This was a tragic incident which led to the death of a young man … BAM Nuttall had failed in its duty to ensure the safety of their workforce,” she said. “This prosecution should serve as a reminder for all contractors to implement suitable risk assessments and safe systems of work.”
BAM Nuttall Limited, based in Camberley, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £800,000 with an additional £60,000 victim surcharge at Inverness Sheriff Court on December 18, 2024.
Calls for Enhanced Safety Measures
Debbie Carroll, head of health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said proper risk assessment measures should have been in place, and if they had, the victim would not have died.
“The death of Liam MacDonald could have been prevented if BAM Nuttall Limited had suitably and sufficiently assessed the risks involved in the maintenance and cleaning of the concrete column skip at the site,” Carroll said.
“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. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.”