Silo death leads to £200,000 fine

The case was heard at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

A port operator has been fined £200,000 after one of its employees died in a grain silo.

Forth Ports plc admitted breaching health and safety regulations in failing to provide adequate risk assessment, training and supervision.

Gary Smith, 34, died after installing a bug trap in a fermenting grain bin at Leith's Imperial Dock in Edinburgh on 7 May 2001.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how Mr Smith became starved of oxygen and fell unconscious while exiting the silo.

The alarm was raised by a colleague but it took 30 minutes before the fire service arrived to mount a rescue operation.

Two days after the accident, health and safety inspectors measured the oxygen level in the silo at 5% - lower than the normal 21%.

Oxygen monitor

Pathologists later determined that Mr Smith would have died within five minutes after falling back into the silo.

Assistant procurator fiscal Dr Alistair Brown said proper safety measures should have included an oxygen monitor and safety hoist and line in case of a problem.

Defence agent Niall Scott said the grain silo manageress admitted to having no idea that operators were climbing down the silo ladders unaided

Employees are entitled to expect their employers to institute systems which guarantee their health and safety as far as is reasonable

Sheriff Mhairi Stephen

This was a gap in the company's otherwise extensive safety programme, he said.

Since the accident, two new risk assessment posts had been created and safety programmes extended to installing bug traps in the silos.

Sheriff Mhairi Stephen had the power to fine the company an unlimited amount and ordered it to pay £200,000.

"Silo grain work has been part of the traditional activities of this company for a number of years," she said.

"Employees are entitled to expect their employers to institute systems which guarantee their health and safety as far as is reasonable."

Forth Ports employs about 650 people in Scotland and some 1300 across the UK.