Forth Bridge walkway death riddle

A POLICEMAN investigating the death of a workman on the Forth Bridge told an inquiry he could not establish how long a section of walkway where the man fell had been missing.

Shotblaster Robert MacDonald, 52, fell to his death as he took an “unauthorised” shortcut to a work area.

The father and grandfather, part of the crew completing a re-painting of the bridge intended to last at least 20 years, fell 150ft before landing on scaffolding on 27 January last year.

A fatal accident inquiry, which opened in September, resumed at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday. Mr MacDonald, from Harthill, Lanarkshire, was one of a night gang of four working for sub-contractors Thyssen Krup Palmers as part of the job intended to put an end to the constant painting of the bridge.

Grant Cathcart, 45, a detective sergeant at British Transport Police in Glasgow, said he took over the investigation into the incident in April 2010. He said none of the detailed reports into the refurbishment had revealed part of the walkway was missing.

He said: “I received discs containing the detailed reports from 2001, 2006 and 2009.

“It showed no work had been done on the bay two [the section of the bridge the men used for the shortcut] at that point.”

He said none of the reports showed when, or why, parts of the walkway had been removed.

The inquiry, before Sheriff Ian Dunbar, continues.