Posted on 07/14/2023 6:26:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A jury found the oil giant guilty, by a majority, of the charge of a health and safety failing in 2014.
BP did breach health and safety rules which resulted in the tragic death of a contractor who plunged through an open hole on one of its rigs - a trial has heard.
A jury at Aberdeen sheriff court took just under two hours to find the oil giant guilty, by a majority, of the charge of a health and safety failing in 2014 - when Sean Anderson fell through an open grating on the Unity offshore platform. Sheriff Graham Buchanan said the delay in bringing the case to court had been due to the Pandemic and “late material” being submitted on the part of the Crown Office.
In the early hours of September 4, 2014, Sean Anderson, 43, had been working night shift on the Unity, being part of a maintenance team contracted by Cape Industrial Services who were carrying out scaffolding and rope access work. With just one hour left to work, he was coming to the end of his two-week stint.
Mr Anderson, a multi-skilled scaffolder with rope access qualifications, would have known why the safety barrier had been erected and that it was safe-guarding an opening on the deck. The court heard he had - in the days running up to his death - been working as part of the team who had built the hard barrier protecting the fatal hole in the decking – through which he fell.
On the night he died, bad weather meant no work was carried out by the team after stopping for a break at midnight. At around 3:30am Sean - a “keen” worker - had asked the installation manager if there was anything that could be done to “keep busy”; promptly rounding up three other men to carry out a tidy up of the lower deck.
What happened next is not clear, but at 4am, Tony Omar, who had been paired off with Sean to collect rubbish, remembers hearing three bangs and immediately raised the “man overboard” alarm. Last night Mr Omar said he was “relieved” by the verdict and said: “I’m glad it’s all over for Sean’s family. I think it was the right decision; we were working in pitch black conditions with no lights. They should have closed the grating or put more signs up.”
The court was told the conditions that night had been foggy and dark and Mr Anderson had not been found wearing a life jacket, harness or survival suit. He had been unconscious and was not breathing when pulled from the water. A rescue craft from the neighbouring accommodation vessel Olympic Orion took him back aboard, but no pulse could be found.
He was seen by the ship’s medic, June Harper, who carried out resuscitation attempts until a paramedic arrived by helicopter. The paramedic pronounced him dead shortly after before 6am and Mr Anderson’s body was transferred by helicopter to Aberdeen.
A post mortem later showed the cause of death was serious injuries to his head and chest sustained as a result of a “descent into the sea” from the oil installation. It was recorded that he had suffered very severe and "predictably immediately" fatal head injuries, with extensive fracturing of the skull.
Toxicology results showed no signs of alcohol, drugs or gas poisoning – and no signs of natural diseases that would have resulted in his death. BP owned the Unity rig, an unmanned pumping station in the Forties Field about 110 miles north-east of Aberdeen in 2014, but has since sold it to INEOS.
“While we know nothing can be said to change the pain felt by Sean Anderson’s family and friends, our deepest condolences remain firmly with them to this day.”
BP’s defence counsel Murdo Macleod KC will give mitigations next week, before Sheriff Graham Buchanan delivers his sentencing.
This happened back in 2014, and only now has a judgement been rendered. That poor family. So much unsettled business.
Back in 2014, America was still in a panic about the potential of the Ebola bacteria to take out a large portion of the general public. Months later in 2015, we were told to worry about having a Zika Baby.
Maritime law is a nest of eels. Some precedents go back to the 1800’s. Don’t know if that applies her, but it’s a possibility.
Good one!
Twice we went out at 2 AM to set up a job on a high rise 20+ floors up.
No lights, no rails and open shafts through out the pour site so as to be ready for OSHA mandated job start at dawn.
8 years for justice
BP should have been expelled from the US...
So why was the grating open? Why was the barrier around the grating removed? Who knew there were workers around an open, unbarriered, grating in the dark? Did the jury’s verdict reflect that the death was caused by a BP employee who screwed up, by a BP supervisor who decided to cut some corners, or by a corporate level BP policy?
This story appears to be missing vital details, but this:
“Mr Anderson, a multi-skilled scaffolder with rope access qualifications, would have known why the safety barrier had been erected and that it was safe-guarding an opening on the deck. The court heard he had - in the days running up to his death - been working as part of the team who had built the hard barrier protecting the fatal hole in the decking – through which he fell.”
seems to suggest he crossed the barricade he had helped construct to enter the area where he fell. I was a safety manger for a shipyard for 20 years. One question I frequently had to ask injured people was, “WTF did you do that?”.
lol....
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