Company fined £50,000 after worker killed in warehouse fall

An engineering firm has been fined £50,000 after a worker was killed when he fell 13ft (4m) from a platform onto a warehouse floor in Renfrew.

Steven Tervit, 32, had been working on a scissor lift - a mobile lift platform - when he was thrown onto the concrete floor in November 2022.

He had been dismantling a cleanroom - an enclosed space inside the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland - when its wall panels collapsed and hit the platform.

Tervit's employer, Food Process Engineering Ltd had been sub-contracted for the job. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it had failed to adequately manage or risk assess the work.

The Hamilton-based firm pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £50,000 with a victim surcharge of £3,750 at Paisley Sheriff Court on Monday.

Tervit had worked for Food Process Engineering as a labourer for 15 years.

He had been carrying out the dismantling operation at the warehouse in the Westway Business Park on Porterfield Road.

The cleanroom, which had been used to house a welding robot, was a steel-framed structure with walls and roof constructed of polyurethane panels measuring 20ft (6.1m) in height.

After the incident, Tervit was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where he was found to have suffered a traumatic brain injury, rib fractures, lung contusions and fractures to his right thigh bone and left shin bone.

He died the following day.

An HSE investigation found that the company had failed to adequately assess and manage the risks of dismantling a structure it had not originally installed.

Although the company's own method statement specified that 'A-frame' props or supports should be installed where necessary, no such props were present or in use on site at the time.

The company had carried out visual inspections of the exterior of the cleanroom before the work began and proceeded on the assumption that it had been constructed to industry standard.

HSE concluded that this assumption was unsafe, as dismantling a structure built by a third party carried a risk of potential defects.

HSE inspector Amna Doherty said: "The failings of this company cost a much-loved husband, father and son his life.

"There was a lack of planning in terms of the risk and those being tasked with the job were not aware of the dangers posed to them.

"We will not hesitate to take action against those who fail to protect their workers."