Construction firm fined after worker crushed to death at St Enoch Centre

Derek McLean was trapped by a 3.5 tonne demolition machine

A construction firm has been fined £10,000 after the death of a worker at St Enoch shopping centre in Glasgow.

Derek McLean, 43, was crushed after attempting to move a 3.5 tonne demolition machine up a set of stairs by remote control in August 2019.

Mr McLean was operating the machine, which moves on tracks, while standing behind it instead of in front.

His employer, Core Cut Limited, admitted it failed to write a sufficiently detailed risk assessment.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that the precise circumstances of the accident were "unknown".

CCTV showed Mr McLean part way through controlling the Brokk demolition machine, which grips the stairs by its tracks.

The court heard that the machine had been moved up the stairs previously, but it struggled to gain grip when Mr McLean was operating it.

He was later found trapped between the machine and a concrete wall in the stairwell.

The remote control used to operate the machine was found around his waistband.

A timber board - used to help move the machine upstairs - was found against a wall while another was underneath the left track of the equipment.

Derek McLean was working at the St Enoch centre of Glasgow

Sheriff John McCormick said the death did not occur as a consequence of the risk assessment failure.

He said: "Mr McLean was behind the machine on an incline where he should have been in front of it.

"The machine had successfully negotiated the same stairwell previously and that after the incident, another engineer experienced no difficulty in taking the machine up to the landing.

"Further mitigating factors include that the lack of an assessment was not profit motivated.

"There had been an assessment but it was not sufficiently detailed."

'Pain and trauma'

The hearing was told that Core Cut Limited - a family firm that employed Mr McLean in 2011 - had no previous convictions and had 42 members of staff.

Barry Smith, defending, added that Mr McLean was regarded as one of the most experienced operators in the company.

Mr McLean's family said in a statement: "While the sentence may reflect a degree of accountability and leads to improving safety for others, it does not reflect the pain and trauma we feel following the loss of Derek.

"We would like to thank those around us who provided support and comfort over the last three years."