Bam Nuttall fined £800k after worker killed inside skip

Bam Nuttall has been fined £800,000 after the death of a 23-year-old at a windfarm site in Shetland.

Liam MacDonald, from Tain in Rossshire, was killed while removing dried concrete from a skip at a site on Upper Kergord, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The HSE statement said the agency worker, who had only been working on the site for just over a month, was using a hammer to chip away the concrete when the skip’s 80kg bale arm fell on him.

It added that MacDonald (pictured) had not carried out the task before, was unsupervised and not provided with much instruction.

The HSE investigation revealed before the accident, he was noticed by his foreman standing inside the skip chipping the hardened concrete with the hammer, despite the task usually being done by someone standing outside the container.

An hour later he was found motionless, still inside the skip, with the bale arm pinned against his chest, and was later pronounced dead at the scene by the emergency services.

The HSE was unable to discover how the bale arm became disengaged from its usual upright position or why it was no longer secured with a carabiner and chain.

The incident took place on 5 June 2022 at the site of construction of the Shetland HVDC link, part of the Viking Energy windfarm project run by client SSE Renewables.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigators found Bam Nuttall had failed to identify the risk of the bale arm 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.

Its statement said the contractor had no specific risk assessment for using the particular type of skip.

There was also no manufacturer’s user guide for the container on site and no system for ensuring the safety information from the user guide was brought to the attention of site managers or  supervisors.

Bam Nuttall Limited, of Camberley, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 on 10 December.

It was fined £800,000 and ordered to pay a £60,000 victim surcharge at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday (18 December).

Bam Nuttall told the earlier hearing that it has reviewed its procedures and Cruickshank accepted that these would substantially reduce the chances of a similar incident happening again.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jackie Randell said: “We thoroughly investigated this incident, with our findings identifying that Bam Nuttall had failed in its duty to ensure the safety of their workforce.

“This prosecution should serve as a reminder for all contractors to implement suitable risk assessments and safe systems of work.”

She added that up-to-date safety information provided by manufacturers must be reviewed as part of a risk assessment process.

“It is of crucial importance that safety information from manufacturers is highlighted to the workforce and rigorous monitoring is carried out to ensure that everyone is kept safe,” she said.

In a statement issued through the HSE, MacDonald’s mother Wendy Robson said her son was “missed beyond words”.

She added: “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.”