A deadly heart condition caused a man to lose control of his tractor and plunge into the River Ythan where he drowned, an inquiry has concluded.
Steven Redpath, 48, died after becoming trapped under the submerged vehicle near Quarry Brae Cottage, Auchedly – between Ythanbank and Methlick – on May 27 2021.
The landscaper and gardener was cutting grass opposite the river on land managed by Haddo House Angling Club at the time of the deadly accident.
Mr Redpath had previously cut the grass three times before the fourth fatal occasion, a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) was told.
In his determination, Sheriff Mungo Bovey KC found that a “health incident” was the “most likely” cause of the tragic accident involving the ride-on mower.
Heart disease
During FAI proceedings, it emerged that Mr Redpath, who was also a hydraulic engineer, was living with what’s known as cardiac enlargement.
His heart was larger than expected for a man of his height.
Sheriff Bovey KC explained: “Cardiac enlargement is judged to be a significant contributing factor to death.
“Individuals with cardiac enlargement are at risk of sudden death at any time due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia or an ischaemic event such as a heart attack.”
But because there were no eyewitnesses to what happened, the inquiry could not determine exactly why Mr Redpath came to die in the river.
It’s not known whether he suffered from a natural event while working, causing him to lose control of the tractor, or if being underwater exacerbated his heart problem.
Cause of death
When Mr Redpath’s body was examined, medical examiners noticed that his lungs showed typical signs of drowning.
They recorded the causes of his death as being “consistent with drowning (incident at work)” and “cardiac enlargement”.
Sheriff Bovey KC said: “It seems most likely that the deceased suffered a health incident related to his cardiac enlargement which caused him to lose control of the vehicle such that it ended in the water with him trapped underneath it”.
Roll-over protection
The FAI heard that the weight of Mr Redpath’s ride-on mower excluded it from legal requirements for tractors heavier than it to be fitted with roll-over protection.
Such a measure “might have assisted” Mr Redpath to escape “had he
otherwise been in a position to do so,” the sheriff said.
But he added: “Although not a factor in the accident in question, given that roll-over protection may increase the risk of a roll-over in smaller tractors such as the one involved, I do not feel able to express a view on the failure to fit one in this case.
“I do not find that there are any defects in any system of working which
contributed to the death or the accident.”
Sheriff Mungo Bovey KC did not find any precautions which could have been taken to avoid the fatal accident.