Alasdair Matheson was the surgeon who modestly disclaimed his role in the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster. As lead consultant, he headed the medical team providing accident and emergency care when the Occidental-owned platform was destroyed, killing 167 men. Only 61 were rescued.

But he always played down his role, insisting on giving credit to his colleagues at the accident and emergency department of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. On the night Aberdeen's most major incident turned into the world's worst offshore platform disaster, Matheson and senior staff were taken out by helicopter to the rescue vessel Tharos, to provide emergency cover and to direct the transfer of the critically injured ashore.

Matheson was the author of the hospital's disaster plan, written to outline what medical steps should be taken in the event of public emergency. The plan received a thorough testing when, in 1983, the Royal Darroch Hotel in the Aberdeen suburb of Cults was destroyed in a gas explosion at a cost of several lives. The plan typified the man - firm, unassuming, a manager who inspired loyalty, teamwork, and what colleagues termed ''unassailable integrity''.

He was to require these qualities when as chairman of the Scottish committee for hospital medical services, he represented his profession at the highest levels. He could prove a doughty adversary, and devoted much of his professional life to the place of A&E. Leading by example, he was the first senior registrar to undertake formal training in A&E as a speciality, and he helped pioneer higher standards of accident and emergency care in the UK. Happiest treating patients, he took the view that for the person involved, every accident was a personal disaster.

Counting by years of service, he was senior A&E consultant, and became renowned for the work commitment of his staff and himself. He led by tireless example, giving up home life whenever called and putting in endless hours. Acknowledged as a surgeon of high technical and motor skills, he cheerfully transferred his dexterity of the operating table to DIY tasks at home.

Alasdair Matheson was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Aberdeen University, taking junior surgical training in his home city and at Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, before being formally examined by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In later years he became one of their examiners, in surgery and A&E procedures.

Possessed of a fine interest in architecture, he was a member of Aberdeen Civic Society and played an active part in enjoying and appreciating architecture locally and abroad. When he was appointed OBE in 1989, he never tired of stating that credit for the award lay with his colleagues and staff.

He was the son of the late Alexander Matheson, chief constable of Aberdeen City Police in the 1960s, and is survived by his wife, Moira, and his sisters, Rose, Katherine, and Coleen.

Alasdair Burnett Matheson OBE FRCS; born June 18, 1940, died December 13, 2002.