A man from Aberdeen died after falling more than 80ft through “fragile flooring” on a North Sea drilling rig, an investigation has found.
Lee Hulse was working on the Valaris 121 rig, located 140 miles off the coast of Aberdeen in Shell’s Shearwater field when the incident happened in November 2025.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a section of grating in the floor of a crane cab was removed for general cleaning, exposing the “fragile surface”.
Mr Hulse subsequently stepped on it and fell more than 80ft through the floor, sustaining fatal injuries.
The 32-year-old father passed away one week after celebrating his birthday.
The HSE has issued an improvement notice to Ensco Offshore UK Limited. Valaris is a trading name.
The watchdog said the company “failed to make an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of [its] employees, or others not in [its] employment”.
The notice said Ensco Offshore UK “did not perform a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the general cleaning activities being conducted on November 14, 2025 in the Crane Cab of the Port Aft crane located on the Valaris 121 Drill Rig”.
ValarisThe HSE investigation is ongoing.
Valaris previously said its priority was the “safety and wellbeing of all personnel”.
The company has been contacted for comment.
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