Digger swinging prank condemned

The footage shows a man being swung around at speed

Safety officials have condemned a video of a man being swung around at speed while hanging from a digger.

The clip has just emerged on video sharing site YouTube.

The incident happened at an offshore supply yard in Peterhead. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) criticised the prank.

A Scomi Oiltools spokeswoman said: "One employee was dismissed for gross misconduct. Two others involved have also left the company."

The Scomi spokeswoman said the incident happened in May last year and explained: "The company has a stringent safety policy and will not condone irresponsible behaviour of any nature."

Death risk

An HSE spokesman said: "HSE condemns the irresponsible and dangerous behaviour being shown on these YouTube videos.

"Working in the construction industry is a high risk occupation. Last year 59 construction workers were killed and many thousands more injured or suffered ill-health.

"These videos show and encourage irresponsible behaviour that could have gone seriously wrong and led to the death or serious injury of their friends and co-workers."

He added: "HSE encourages all in the construction industry to condemn such videos and help stamp out this type of unsafe behaviour."