A contractor plunged four metres when a rusting gantry gave way as he worked at a wood processing plant in Stirlingshire, at which health and safety breaches have been admitted in court.
David McMillan suffered breaks to his neck, ankle and ribs and a collapsed lung at the West Fraser Europe Ltd site at Cowie.
It happened just months after another employee was dragged into machinery on the site.
Sean Gallagher suffered a serious leg break and muscle and bone loss as a result.
At Stirling Sheriff Court the Devon-registered company admitted to breaches of health and safety legislation.
Gantry plunge
Fiscal depute Catherine Fraser told the court appropriately harnessed Mr McMillan was on the roof helping install scaffolding and made his way along a gantry towards a ladder to descend.
She said: “As he jumped down on to the steel plates which make up the floor section of the gantry, one of them gave way and fell to the ground, taking him with it.”
He was taken to Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow, where he was treated for a shattered heel, broken ankle, fractures to his elbow and ribs, multiple fractures to his vertebrae and a collapsed lung.
He underwent surgery and was in hospital for almost three weeks.
Ms Fraser said the firm had a maintenance and inspection schedule for other parts of the premises but not the gantry.
While the supporting structure was found to be in good condition, the floor level was so corroded there was a thickness difference of as much as 3mm.
Welds on the gantry were found to be corroded.
Entangled in screws
Ms Fraser also told the court of an earlier incident in which West Fraser employee Mr Gallagher had been pulled into machinery.
A fault had been detected in the biomass bunker and Mr Gallagher, in trying to resolve it, became entangled in a screw mechanism and suffered a broken leg and needed skin grafts and a surgical frame fitted.
West Fraser Europe Ltd has now dismantled the gantry and added a secondary mesh guard to the biomass bunker, which can only be opened with a key kept in a supervisor’s office.
The firm, of Station Road, Cowie, admitted failing to take measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machinery by not having a guard on the inspection hatch of the biomass bunker between January 2018 and January 2020, resulting in Mr Gallagher’s severe injury and permanent impairment.
It further pled guilty to failing to ensure safe access to an elevated gantry in July 2020 resulting in the severe injury of David McMillan.
Counsel for the company, Mark Stewart KC, said it had many safety protocols in place but admitted the gaps that caused the injuries.
He said: “These incidents highlighted where the system had failed.
“Lessons have been learned and they have gone on to implement improvements.”
Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney deferred sentence until later this month.
Burns horror at same site
The same company, then known as Norboard Europe Ltd, was fined more than £2 million in 2022 following an incident in which an employee died after being burned at the site.
George Laird suffered full-thickness burns to 90% of his body after a fire hose was used to try and clear hot ash from the bottom of a combustion chamber.
This caused an explosive effect whereby Mr Laird was covered in scalding water, steam and hot ash.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.