A seafood company has been fined £80,000 after a fisherman died when his leg was caught in a rope and he was pulled overboard.
Scrabster Seafoods pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches at Tain Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
On February 5 2018, a creel fishing vessel called the North Star was deploying creel about 16 miles north-west of Cape Wrath in Caithness.
Three men were working on the boat using a rope that was paying out at the rear of the vessel.
Mark Elder, 26, became caught in a coil of backrope and, despite the efforts of his crew-mates, he was pulled overboard.
It took 10 minutes for Mr Elder to be brought back on board and efforts to resuscitate him continued for well over an hour, but were unsuccessful, the court heard.
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An investigation by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in 2018 found the directors of Scrabster Seafoods had no experience of operating or managing fishing vessels.
When they purchased the boat in November 2016, they had failed to arrange or complete the required new risk assessment, it said.
Directors had no substantive knowledge of the responsibilities and obligations that accompanied the ownership of a fishing vessel and relied on the skipper to “keep them right” regarding regulations that surround vessel ownership and operation, according to the MCA.
The skipper argued he was unaware of the 1997 Regulations requirement to review and update any risk assessments.
North Star underwent an extensive refit in August 2017 which should have initiated fresh assessments of the risks associated around fishing with creels, the court heard.
Being snagged in rope when shooting creel is a primary risk likely to result in serious injury or death associated with this type of fishing.
Fishermen are recommended to use “pond boards” which create barriers at deck level to keep workers clear of ropes.
This would have provided a safe system of work for the crew on board the North Star.
Speaking after the sentencing, Debbie Carroll, who leads on health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “Scrabster Seafoods Limited accepted liability and the Crown accepted their guilty plea to the contraventions of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
“Mark Elder lost his life in circumstances which were foreseeable and entirely avoidable.
“Had the required risk assessments been carried out and safe systems of work been put in place, then Mr Elder may well be alive today.
“Hopefully this incident should prompt other employers to consider their duties and that failing to keep their employees safe can have fatal consequences for which they will be held accountable.”
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