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Scottish Demolition Firm Fined After Site Death

Date of article:  29/08/2007

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A Scottish demolition firm has been fined £50,000 after one of its workers was crushed when a silo collapsed on top of his excavator.

Gideon Irvine 44, from Falkirk, died on August 22, 2004 when a large section of the former Caledonia Mill, which was being demolished, fell on him without warning.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court fined Central Demolition of Bonnyside Road, Bonnybridge £50,000 after the firm pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

HSE Inspector, Murray Provan said: "This accident was entirerly forseeable. The demolition company had not carried out a survey of Caledonia Mill in order to identify structural hazards to prevent premature collapse.

"The company relied entirely on drawings prepared around 1989 but made no effort to search archives or pursue other reasonable lines of enquiry to find out as much as it could about the large silo building at Caledonia Mill.

"The building itself was actually two seperate structures, built at different times, but, superficially, similar in appearance."

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