FIFE FIRM FINED AGAIN AFTER WORKER WAS BADLY INJURED
A worker sustained horrific injuries after being struck by highly-pressurised water during hydraulic testing on machinery.
His employer, TechnipFMC was today fined £161,250 for breaching health and safety law.
A testing booth should have remained automatically locked when it presented a danger to employees but this safety measure failed.
The breach of health and safety legislation spanned a period of almost a decade from the installation of the booth until the accident in 2020.
Employee Alan Reid noticed a leak from the machinery he was testing, went into the booth to carry out adjustments with a spanner and was struck by highly pressurised water.
The accident took place at FMC’s Dunfermline facility, where a similar incident occurred in 2015. On that occasion a worker lost a hand after being struck by machinery during testing.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court today, FMC admitted that between 1st January 2011 and 18th December 2020 at Pitreavie Business Park, Dunfermline, being an employer, it failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of its employees when using a testing booth.
As a result, two employees gained access to the booth and Alan Reid was struck on the head and body by pressurised liquid to the danger of his life, permanent impairment and permanent disfigurement, contrary to health and safety legislation.
Depute fiscal Laura McManus said the company had a turnover of £174 million in 2023. It has 650 employees in Dunfermline plus 200 core contractors.
Reid, an assembly and test fitter employed by the firm, was carrying out hydraulic tests on a ‘Christmas tree’ unit, a large piece of machinery used in the subsea oil and gas industry.
He was carrying out the test remotely from a control unit outside the booth.
However, he noticed a leak and pressed an emergency button. The booth should have remained locked while it remained a danger zone because of the highly pressurised water.
This safety lock had failed and the door opened after the emergency button was pressed. Mr Reid, accompanied by a female colleague, went into the booth.
Mr Booth used a spanner attempting to tighten a fitting. There was “an almighty bang” and the uncontrolled release of highly pressurised water which struck Mr Reid, knocking him off his feet.
Mr Reid sustained a depressed fracture of the skull and bruising to the brain, undergoing surgery at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to have a metal plate fitted.
He also suffered fractured vertebrae, pressure burns to his chest and arms and a significant puncture wound from highly pressurised water “passing through his chest from front to back”.
His memory is now described as “very poor”, he suffers from mood swings, headaches and feels he is more irritable than previously.
Sheriff Robert More expressed “deepest sympathy from the court” to Mr Reid for his injuries and imposed a fine of £161,250 on the company.
FMC’s Dunfermline facility has been open since 1975 and is involved in the design, manufacture and testing of machinery for the subsea oil and gas industry.
In 2017 FMC Technologies merged with Technip and is now known as TechnipFMC.
In March 2015, at the same premises, an employee was injured in another accident during tests. He was struck by a piece of machinery and as a result had his arm amputated.
In October 2016, at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, the company was fined £10,000 after admitting health and safety failings in that incident.
