Highland fish farm company fined £860k over death of employee
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An experienced fish farm worker drowned after he was crushed between a boat and a barge as he tried to disembark a moving transfer vessel.
The firm he worked for, formerly known as Marine Harvest, admitted health and safety failings which could have prevented his death and were fined £860,000 by Sheriff Sara Matheson at Inverness Sheriff Court today.
Her headline sentence was one of £1.2 million but because the company, now known as Mowi, had admitted responsibility at an early stage, she discounted it.
The sheriff expressed sympathy to Mr Hendry's family and friends who were in court and said: "Nothing I can do to bring him back."
She added that what she could do was to bring home to companies the importance of health and safety in the workplace to prevent a repetition of such deaths.
Despite efforts by colleagues to save 58-year-old Clive Hendry he slipped out of his flotation jacket as another worker tried to haul him out of the freezing water on Loch Alsh, near Kyle of Lochalsh.
He had tried to get off one of the company's transfer vessels on to a floating but anchored structure.
But the vessel was still moving forward slowly and his pelvis was crushed within seconds, despite the boat being put into reverse immediately.
Inverness Sheriff Court said the last words he spoke to his would-be rescuer were "my legs are ******" before he sank below the surface of Mowi Scotland's Ardintoul fish farm on Loch Alsh on February 18, 2020.
The court was told that the water's temperature was between 6.1 and 8.8 degrees centigrade and a reflex breath action forced an involuntary intake of water into the unconscious man's lungs and he drowned within 20 seconds.
Efforts by workmates to revive him with CPR and a defibrillator, plus actions by ambulance paramedics and Broadford Hospital staff in Fort William failed. He was pronounced dead about 90 minutes after the 3pm incident.
Principal fiscal depute David Glancy presented the facts to the court, ending by saying: "What should have happened was dialogue about how Mr Hendry's safe transfer could be achieved.
"Instead he was left with the responsibility for his own actions and he had not been told what and what not to do".
The prosecutor said that the company had since taken action to improve marine safety like improved communication methods between their vessels' skippers and those aboard via a tannoy system.
CCTV had also been installed to ensure compliance at all times.
The type of disembarkation Mr Hendry attempted, known as a 'touch and go' had also been discontinued and the vessel had to be stopped first and the master decided it was safe to do so.
For the company, Peter Gray KC told the court: "Mowi takes its responsibilities to its employees' safety very seriously.
"It is a matter of great regret and concern that Mr Hendry lost his life due in part to the failings of the company.
"It was a completely routine transfer which had been carried out by experienced employees as part of their daily routine and that no transfer would take place until the vessel was stationary.
"It will never be known why Mr Hendry departed from that practice. But the company recognises its responsibilities fully."
The company pleaded guilty to failing to make risk assessments for the safe transfer of employees from its larger vessels to a structure known as the 'Sea Cap' which housed a galley, toilets and other accommodation with computers controlling some fish farm functions.
It also admitted failing to monitor safe systems of work to ensure safe transfers and failing to provide supervision to ensure flotation devices were properly secure so they would become detached, as happened in Mr Hendry's case.
Afterwards, Mr Hendry's partner, Catriona Lockart, said: "My life has been destroyed by what happened – and I don't believe Mowi have changed the way they operate.
"It is just devastating to me to think he had the most horrific death. He just longed for the day he would retire so he could go fishing."
Ms Lockhart has taken civil legal action to sue Mowi for their failings.
