£200,000 fine for drilling rig death

Prosecutions and Claims |
11.04.2008

Edeco Petroleum Services has been fined £200,000 following the death of a subcontractor on a drilling project.

Neil Millar was found dead under a piece of lifting equipment on 6 August 2005 at Aldbrough Gas Storage Facility in East Yorkshire.

The lifting equipment was being used to move metal tubular casing up to the drilling rig floor. A lifting arm, powered by a large hydraulic ram, descended and trapped Millar's neck against a horizontal steel beam that supported the lifting equipment. He died of asphyxiation.

The HSE investigation revealed that the equipment had been imported from Canada and Edeco had failed to check it was safely guarded.

HSE inspector John Rowe described the accident as "horrific". He said a number of earlier safety incidents involving the company indicated that at times "health and safety management fell well below what was required."

Edeco Petroleum Services, of Castle Donington in Leicestershire, admitted breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to ensure the safety of employees and others.

On 9 April at Hull Crown Court the firm was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £47,400 costs.