BAM Nuttall has been fined £800,000 after a 23-year-old agency worker died when a skip’s bale arm fell on him during the construction of a wind farm on the Shetland Islands.
Liam MacDonald, from Tain, Ross-shire, lost his life on 5 June 2022 while removing dried concrete from a skip at the Viking site on Upper Kergord.
He had started working on the site just over a month earlier.
MacDonald had been using a hammer to chip away the concrete when the skip’s bale arm fell on him. He was found motionless with the skip’s bale arm pinned against his chest, which led to an alarm being raised at the site.
Although colleagues performed CPR on him before administering a defibrillator, he was pronounced dead at the scene by the emergency services.
Investigation and prosecution
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that BAM Nuttall, the project’s principal contractor, failed to identify the risks of the bale arm falling.
It also failed to put in place a safe system of work to ensure that anyone using, maintaining or cleaning the skip would be protected from harm.
BAM Nuttall Ltd, of Knoll Road, Camberley, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £800,000 with a £60,000 victim surcharge at Inverness Sheriff Court on 18 December 2024.
MacDonald’s mother, Wendy Robson, said: “We have been robbed of having Liam here today, and in all our tomorrows, and in sharing those dreams with him. We will never meet the children he so wanted to have one day.
“We can’t adequately describe who Liam was, and what he means to us – we love and miss him beyond words.”
‘Failed in its duty to ensure safety’
HSE inspector Jackie Randell said: “We thoroughly investigated this incident, with our findings identifying that BAM Nuttall had failed in its duty to ensure the safety of their workforce. This prosecution should serve as a reminder for all contractors to implement suitable risk assessments and safe systems of work.”
Debbie Carroll, who leads on health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “The death of Liam MacDonald could have been prevented if BAM Nuttall Limited had suitably and sufficiently assessed the risks involved in the maintenance and cleaning of the concrete column skip at the site.”
