Company fined after horror stepladder death at Bearsden station
The family of the 20-year-old electrician will also get compensation
A construction and telecommunication company is being fined £550,000 after a worker fell to his death from a stepladder at Bearsden railway station.
20-year-old Matthew Mason was impaled on metal piping while installing a public address system on 5th June 2018.
Sheffield-based Linbrooke Services Limited was found guilty of breaches of health and safety and working at height regulations at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on 30 March 2023.
Dunbarton Sheriff Court heard 20-year-old was trying to free speaker cabling that had become stuck when he fell backwards from a stepladder onto a section of metal piping that was being used as a handle on a cable drum.
The piping pierced his side causing internal injuries and he was pronounced dead at the scene
The company was also ordered to pay Matthew Mason's family £200,000 in compensation.
Job not properly planned
The prosecutor led evidence over the course of the 14-day trial showing that the company had failed to appropriately plan, and risk assess the work and have in place a safe system of work.
The company was found to have failed to adequately identify the risks involved with pulling cables through a conduit at height even though they had been informed of the problems met by a sub-contractor in an earlier attempt.
Stepladders were unsuitable for the work being carried out. There were insufficient measures in place to prevent a fall from height.
They also failed to adequately identify the risks involved with the use of improvised cable dispensing methods or ensure that the surrounding area was free of material which could cause injury in the event of a fall.
'Avoidable' death
Speaking after the sentencing, Debbie Carroll, who leads on health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “Matthew Mason lost his life in circumstances which were foreseeable and avoidable.
“His death could have been prevented had Linbrooke Services Limited put in place appropriate planning, supervision, and protective measures to manage the risk of working at height.
"It is well known that falls from height are one of the single greatest causes of death and serious injury to workers within the construction industry.
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