Two companies have been fined a total of £640,000 following the death of two fish farm workers on a barge moored at a salmon farm on Loch Creran, Argyll & Bute, reports the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Two workers (employed by Logan Inglis Limited, Cumbernauld) were fixing a hydraulic crane on the barge when they went below deck to find cabling and pipework. One of the men was able to climb out but the other passed out.
In an attempt to rescue their colleague, Maarten Den Heijer and Robert MacDonald entered the small chamber below deck but lost consciousness almost immediately. The three men needed to be rescued by emergency services but only Campbell Files recovered, while his colleagues died at the scene.
Following the incident on 11 May 2009, inspectors from the HSE discovered Scottish Sea Farms had not provided suitable information, instruction and training for employees working in the small sealed chambers on the Loch Creran barge or a safe way for them to work.
Scottish Sea Farms, was fined £600,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Logan Inglis Limited of 14 Dunswood Road, Wardpark South, also pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £40,000.