A workman has died after falling through a warehouse roof at a Speyside distillery.
The 58-year-old joiner was carrying out work on one of Parkmore Distillery’s whisky maturing buildings, near Dufftown, when he fell between 15 and 20-feet through the ceiling on Tuesday morning.
He was named locally as Graham Sutherland, a Caledonia Property Maintenance Limited employee from Seatown in Lossiemouth.
The area surrounding the warehouse and Mr Sutherland’s work van remained quarantined at the scene of the incident yesterday as inquiries continued.
Police were called to the distillery around 11.40am on Tuesday and are continuing to lead investigations along with the Health and Safety Executive.
A police spokeswoman said: “There are no apparent suspicious circumstances, and inquiries are on-going to find out the full set of circumstances surrounding the death.”
The dunnage warehouse buildings being worked on are between 40 and 50-years-old and are asbestos-proof.
A spokesman for The Edrington Group said: “We can confirm that there was a serious incident at the Parkmore warehouses near Dufftown on Tuesday morning in which a building contractor died.
“Emergency services were called immediately, but the man died at the scene. No one else was hurt.
“We are shocked and saddened by this tragic incident, and our thoughts and sincere sympathies are with the man’s family.
“The safety of our employees and the contractors who work with us is paramount to Edrington, and we are co-operating fully with the relevant authorities as they continue their investigations.”
Mr Sutherland’s family are believed to be from Ireland.
Tributes were paid to the former Elgin Academy pupil by neighbours yesterday near his Seatown home.
One neighbour said: “It’s just not going to be the same again. Salt of the earth.
“He was the sort of person that – just knowing Graham – he would pull the stops out to do anything for anybody.
“That’s Graham. He’ll be sorely, sorely missed. A really solid community character. That’s Graham. It’s just tragic.”
Another Seatown resident added: “Graham was a really good neighbour. He was one of the best guys you could know really.
“He talked to anybody. He would have helped anybody. He was a really helpful neighbour. It’s such a shame that he’s gone.
“He never asked for anything from anyone, and he would lend anything to anybody. He used to give us bits of wood, and odds and ends from his garden that we needed.
“Just a really, really nice chap.”
Parkmore was built in Dufftown in 1894, but has been silent since 1931. Today, it is only used for warehousing and maturing.