A fish farm company has been told to do regular training after one of its employees was crushed to death.
Clive Hendry was working for Mowi at Ardintoul fish farm in Glenshiel, in February 2020 when he drowned.
A fatal accident inquiry began at Inverness Justice Centre on March 18 and evidence was heard from 12 witnesses on four court days before Sheriff Gary Aitken retired on June 12 to consider his conclusion.
At the time of the incident, the 58-year-old was attempting to move from a boat to a floating structure called a sea cap when he fell into the water.
Colleagues tried to pull him onboard the structure but were unable to do so.
Mr Hendry slipped through his life jacket into the water and sadly died.
‘Precautions could have saved him’
In a judgement out today, Sheriff Aitken said Mowi could have taken precautions that “might realistically have resulted in Mr Hendry’s death being avoided.”
That includes having a risk assessment for transferring workers from boats to structures and ensuring staff all used the same transfer procedure.
However, all sides involved in the FAI accept that Mowi has improved its safety processes in the last four years to minimise the possibility of a similar tragedy in future.
Those improvements came out partly thanks to a previous investigation carried out by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.
Because those changes have been so comprehensive, Sheriff Aitken did not make any formal recommendations for improvements, in his ruling.
However, he did say that Mowi needs to ensure staff receive regular training on exactly what they should do if someone goes into the water – known as ‘man overboard’ training.
In the ruling, Sheriff Aitken said there was no evidence Mr Hendry’s colleagues could have done anything different when recovering him from the water but they did not feel confident when doing so.
Sheriff Aitken added: “Had training been provided in advance, their response might have bee more confident and come more as second nature rather than a conscious decision taken in stressful circumstances.”
‘Training needs to be provided regularly’
Sheriff Aitken said: “Mowi’s decision to provide ‘man overboard’ training (after Mr Hendry’s death) is to be commended.
“But training of that kind needs to be repeated for new employees and refresher training provided regularly to existing employees.
“The provision of an improved rescue pole is commendable but regular training needs to be carried by employers in Mowi’s position to ensure that it can be used as effectively and efficiently as possible.”
After the release of today’s ruling, Catriona Lockhart, Mr Hendry’s partner, said: “I am glad that there is a recognition that ‘man overboard’ training must be thorough.
“It can’t be a case of just doing it once, ticking a box and then never revisiting it.
“Staff need to be doing it often and new starters need to be doing it before they work in the water.”
Ms Lockhart said she was disappointed that regulatory bodies were not able to be involved in the FAI process, but accepted that was normal practice.
She thanked the courts for examining Mr Hendry’s death in such detail.
In his ruling, Sheriff Aitken said: “There are precautions, which could reasonably have been taken that might realistically have resulted in the death, or accident resulting in the death, being avoided.
“These are firstly that there should have been a specific risk assessment for the transfer of personnel from large workboats to floating structures such as the sea cap.
“Secondly, there should have been a safe system of work for such transfers.
‘There was no clarity’
“As a minimum, such a system of work should have required that the vessel be stationary during transfer and mandate that personnel should only embark or disembark from the vessel when signalled by the master of the vessel.
“There was no clarity as to how such transfers were to be carried out.
“Employees did not properly understand their respective expectation in relation to such transfers, resulting in a confused and dangerous transfer attempt by Mr Hendry, resulting in a fatal accident.”
All sides involved with the FAI accept Mowi has since produced a risk assessment for personnel transfers, and a transfer protocol.
Previously, Mowi bosses have offered their sincere condolences to Mr Hendry’s loved ones, and called him a “well-respected member of the workforce.”
Sheriff Aitken said in his ruling: “I once again express my condolences to the family and friends of Mr Hendry.
“He was clearly very well thought of and respected by his colleagues and I have no doubt that he is still sorely missed by all who knew him.”
Mowi has been approached for comment.
