The security guard died after being found lying face down and hypothermic, in deep snow, at a remote hillside in Ayrshire.
Ayr Sheriff Court heard that just after midnight on 22nd January 2018, Ronald (Ronnie) Alexander, a 74-year-old security guard employed by Corporate Service Management Limited, was found by Police Scotland鈥檚 Mountain Rescue Team at Afton Windfarm, a remote site near New Cumnock. He died later that day having never regained consciousness.
Corporate Service Management Limited was contracted by Northstone (NI) Limited, which trades as Farrans, to provide security for this site. Following a site visit by the managing director and operations director of Corporate Service Management, it was agreed that two guards would be required because it was known that mobile phone signals offsite are very poor.
At around lunchtime on 21nd January, as forecasted, the weather deteriorated resulting in deep drifts on the road to the site from New Cumnock, and the road between the gatehouse where Mr Alexander worked and the site compound where his colleague was stationed. Although mobile phone communications were known to be poor and inconsistent at the site there was no landline. Two-way radios were available, but these could only be used for the guards to speak with each other and not offsite.
The HSE investigation into Mr Alexander鈥檚 death found that when preparing their emergency weather plan, Northstone (NI) Ltd had failed to include those times when nobody from the company would be present at the site. The company also failed to ensure there was a back-up generator at either of the guard鈥檚 locations to ensure that their welfare area would have heating and lighting should the main generator fail, despite this having occurred on several occasions previously. Northstone (NI) Ltd did not ensure that Mr Alexander or his colleague had a reliable means of calling for help.
At around 5pm, Mr Alexander鈥檚 colleague managed to obtain a signal on his mobile phone and reported to Corporate Service Management鈥檚 control room that not only had the generator failed, but that the only means of transporting the men offsite, a 4脳4 vehicle, had become trapped in the deep snow at the site compound. Despite this, Corporate Service Management did not call the emergency services until after 9pm.
Corporate Service Management鈥檚 emergency plan relied on there being effective communication between the guards and their control room, however they failed to provide this or to make sure that Northstone (NI) Ltd had provided this at the site.
Northstone (NI) Limited, Kingsway, Dunmurry, Belfast pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined 拢768,000.
Corporate Service Management Limited, MacLellan Street, Glasgow pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined 拢100,800.
HSE inspector Gerard Muir said: 鈥淭his incident could so easily have been avoided had either company ensured that a suitable assessment had been made of the risk to those working at the site in poor weather, that suitable and sufficient means had been provided for the guards to communicate offsite, and that back-up generators had been provided, particularly when they knew how often the main generator had failed. By simply carrying out these correct control measures and ensuring safe working practices at this site, this tragic event could have been avoided.
鈥淐ompanies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.鈥�
A Northstone spokesperson said: 鈥淣orthstone accepts that on this occasion at Afton Windfarm we did not meet the high health and safety standards that we seek to achieve to protect our employees, customers, clients, subcontractors and communities.鈥�
鈥淲e deeply regret that this resulted in the death of Mr Ronald Alexander. Our thoughts and sincerest sympathies remain with his family and friends.鈥�
鈥淲e took immediate action on the Afton Windfarm project to prevent a re-occurrence. As part of our internal investigation and the subsequent findings of this investigation we have reviewed and improved our risk control processes across the business.鈥�
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