Elderly man trapped and drowned in fatal pier fall

Date:

18 August 2010

Release No:

SCO/161/10

Argyll and Bute Council was today fined £20,000 after a man died when he drove over an unprotected edge of a car park at Coal Pier in Dunoon.

Duncan MacGillivray, 75 of Dunoon, drowned on 17 September 2007, when it is believed that he accidentally put his car into forward gear rather than reverse to exit a parking bay. The vehicle mounted the edging, and, as there was no protective barrier, the car fell approximately three metres into the sea below and Mr MacGillivray was trapped.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that while there were some barriers in place at the pier, there were none in the area where Mr MacGillivray had parked.

At an earlier date Dunoon Sheriff Court heard that neither prior to the pier being utilised as a council-operated car park nor at any time after it was brought into such use, was there assessment of risk to those using the car park. Nor had any action been taken to provide adequate edge protection to prevent incidents like this.

Argyll and Bute Council of Kilmory, Lochgilphead, Argyll, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Following the case, Inspector Mike Orr said:

"Mr MacGillivray died in tragic and traumatic circumstances, ultimately drowning in the sea below the pier. A simple risk assessment would have identified the clear risks of an unprotected sheer drop into the sea at the edge of a car park - but sadly the council failed to do this.

"Argyll and Bute Council was responsible for the maintenance and operation of this charging public car park. When it changed the use of the pier, from a commercial site, it should have quickly identified any risks to members of the public. It's simply not acceptable that this didn't happen."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
2. In Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sole responsibility for the raising of criminal proceedings for breaches of health and safety legislation
3. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

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