A TRANSPORT company has been fined £80,000 after admitting safety failures which led to the death of an employee at an Inverness grain depot.

Andrew Harrald, 33, from Ardross, was buried under tons of animal feed being tipped from his lorry at the Longman Industrial Estate in February 2011.

Inverness Sheriff Court had previously heard that it was the second time an employee of Turriff-based Transpan Scotland Ltd had died in this way.

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety rules.

The Health and Safety Executive, which carried out the investigation said emergency services used a digger, while a colleague assisted with a shovel, to scoop out eight to 10 tonnes of wheat before finding Mr Harrold.

He was unconscious and attempts were made to resuscitate him, but he died at the scene.

Investigations by HSE inspectors discovered a bungee-style cord was positioned over the controls that were meant to be operated only by hand - a system which ensured the operator was away from the tail section as the hydraulics lifted it up.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the tipper was already in the process of rising before Mr Harrold had finished opening the catches on the back door, which then burst open.

HSE principal inspector Niall Miller said: "This risk here was entirely foreseeable. The bungees or elasticated cords on this tipping control had been on there for some time and there were other devices - such as pieces of wood and plastic pipe - that were used to defeat the safety function on other lorries.

"Transpan could easily have supervised drivers on site. If Mr Harrold had been prevented from using the elasticated cord on the tipping control, he could not have gone behind his lorry when it was tipping upwards."