Firm fined after diver drowns

Wastwater is Britain deepest lake

A company has been ordered to pay £47,500 after a diver died in a lake on a weekend trip.

Paul Gallacher, 33, was in the Lake District with Leicester-based Stoney Cove Marine Trials, when he got into difficulty in murky waters in Britain's deepest lake.

Despite attempts to rescue him, he suffered convulsions after oxygen pressure increased in his blood and died as his fellow pupils were taken to the surface, a court heard.

The company was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £40,000 costs, after pleading guilty to failing to ensure that divers were not exposed to risk of death or serious injury under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Mr Gallacher, a keen amateur diver from Leicester, had travelled with a group to Wastwater in Cumbria for the diving course in October 2000, a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard.

He had not completed and logged enough dives for the course and had never been deeper than 45 metres on a dive, according to his logbook.

Unfamiliar lake

But the court heard that on this occasion he reached depths of almost 60 metres.

His instructor, Patrick Bryan, did not check Mr Gallacher's written records and failed to carry out a full risk assessment of the unfamiliar lake, the court was told.

Sam Mainds, prosecuting, told the court: "Paul Gallacher was on a course with flawed safety documentation, diving at a depth substantially more than ever before, using a gas mix which was unknown to him.

"It is an undeniable truth that if the defendants had done their work correctly he would not have been allowed on the course."

Gerard Forlin, defending, said that although only around 85 of Mr Gallacher's dives had been recorded, he had carried out almost 100 dives and was fully competent to take the course.

A post mortem examination on Mr Gallacher, a sales director for a refrigeration company, found he died from oxygen toxicity.

'Internal inquiry'

Judge Martin Coates, said: "The defendant company is not responsible in any way for the death of Paul Gallacher.

"In essence the defendant failed to ensure that Paul Gallacher was qualified to undertake the dive and a written risk assessment was inadequate in detail.

"The company has taken post accident steps and conducted an internal inquiry and I take that into account."

HSE Inspector Mike Welham said after the hearing: "Stoney Cove Marine Trials is at the forefront of recreational diver safety but in this case, where people were being taught technical diving in a remote location, they failed to manage the diving operation.

"The company has reviewed and changed procedures and have co-operated with HSE in its investigation."