THE quarry where a teenager fell 117ft on to rocks was not a public
danger according to council chiefs, a fatal accident inquiry was told
yesterday.
Officials from Motherwell District Council visited Blairhill quarry,
near Blackridge, Lanarkshire, after 13-year-old Charles Tease died after
the fall.
Environmental health officer Paul Sherry said conditions at Blairhill
were not a public nuisance because access was at the bottom of the
quarry.
He said: ''You can't actually fall when you are at the floor. We
therefore concluded that nuisance conditions did not exist at
Blairhill.''
He was giving evidence at Hamilton Sheriff Court on the second day of
the inquiry into the boy's death.
Mr Sherry said that under public health laws and the Mines and
Quarries (Scotland) Act, Motherwell District Council could not take
enforcement action against quarry owner Tarmac Ltd.
Instead, council environmental health officers and officials from the
company carried out a joint visit to the site. He said the council was
in a position only to recommed safety improvements. But the advice did
not include building safety fences.
He revealed that his department had been unaware that safety aspects
at the quarry were its responsibility until the days after the death in
August last year.
Mr Sherry said when his department and other council environmental
health departments discovered that Motherwell District Council was
responsible for the disused quarry, the reaction was one of ''surprise
and disbelief''.
Safety inspections had never been carried out by the council because
it was unaware of its responsibility.
Charles Tease, who was found lying on rocks at the foot of the cliff
by his uncle, Mr Alexander Marshall, 51, died two days after the August
16 plunge.
He had been throwing stones and boulders from the top.
Professor Anthony Busuttill, who carried out the post-mortem
examination at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, said: ''He exhibited very
extensive and severe injuries, particularly to his face and lower jaw.
It suggested a headlong impact.''
In his judgment, Sheriff Hamish Stirling said he was not able to
attach any blame for the death to conditions at the quarry.
He said he was satisfied that the boy had died as the result of
injuries caused by the fall.
Sheriff Stirling added that it was his task to investigate reasonable
safety precautions taken at the quarry, and defects, if any, in these,
but he was unable to identify any.
He delivered a formal verdict.
Later, the boy's father, Mr Charles Tease, 46, said: ''The warning
signs at the quarry were only put there this August. I am very
disappointed with the outcome of this inquiry.''
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