Death of worker who was crushed at Glasgow's St Enoch centre 'could have been avoided'

The death of a construction worker could have been avoided had he operated a machine correctly, a sheriff has ruled.

Core Cut Limited employee Derek McLean was crushed after attempting to manoeuvre a 3.5 tonne BROKK machine up a set of stairs at the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow on August 22, 2019.

Mr McLean, 43, was having difficulty gaining grip with trafficking the machine as it was being moved remotely up the stairwell of the city centre location.

The dad-of-three was later found trapped between the machine and a concrete wall to the left of the stairwell.

A fatal accident inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court has now found his death could have been avoided.

Sheriff Joan Kerr said if Mclean had not entered the “risk zone” of the machine, or if he had pressed the stop button on the remote control, he could still be alive.

It was concluded that there were no defaults in any system of working and that there were no other precautions which could have been taken.

In a written judgment, Sheriff Kerr said: “The accident and Derek McLean’s death might realistically have been avoided if he had refrained from entering the risk zone of the Brokk 260 machine, and/or, de-energised the Brokk 260 by pressing the stop button on its remote control.

“There were no other precautions which could reasonably have been taken which might realistically have resulted in the accident or death being avoided.

“The evidence from every Brokk trained operator from whom the inquiry heard was that in the event of bottoming out the machine would be taken back to a level area, boards placed down and then the machine tracked onto the boards.

“Whilst it is possible to say from the evidence that the accident occurred because Mr McLean was in the risk zone of the machine, it cannot say why he was in that position.”

Core Cut Limited previously pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court in November 2022 after it admitted they failed to write a sufficiently detailed risk assessment.

The hearing was told that the “leading specialist” sawing and demolition company had no previous convictions and employs 42 members of staff.

The firm was fined £10,000.

The family of the late Mr McLean previously said they welcomed the FAI but were devastated about the reasons for having it.

“The loss of Derek is something we will never get over – no person should go to work and not come home”, they added.

“All we can do now is hope the FAI improves standards everywhere and protects workers and families from avoidable tragedies.”