‘I watched as workmate fell to his death taking Forth Bridge short-cut’

A SHOTBLASTER wiped away tears as he told a fatal accident inquiry he saw a workmate fall to his death through the missing floor of an abandoned walkway as they took an unauthorised short-cut to a work area high up on the Forth Bridge.

Mick Muir was working for sub-contractor Thyssen Krup Palmers applying a special coating designed to put an end to the “never-ending task” of painting the 120-year-old landmark.

The inquiry heard that he, chargehand Joe McGinley, 56, and the man who died, Robert MacDonald, had been “a close-knit team” and were on the night shift as usual when the accident occurred on 27 January, 2010.

Mr MacDonald, from Harthill, Lanarkshire, fell 150ft from the abandoned walkway and landed on scaffolding, after taking the short-cut to avoid “a sore climb” up 19 consecutive ladders.

Giving evidence on the second day of the inquiry at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday, Mr Muir, 43, said all three of them had agreed to take the short-cut, which had been suggested by Mr McGinley.

Instead of descending by hoist from a bothy near the top of the centre cantilever of the bridge, where their tools were stored, then traversing a level walkway at deck height before climbing the 19 ladders, they had agreed to clamber over a barrier and use the abandoned walkway, which led down a sloping cross-member of the bridge towards the area sheeted off for them to work in.

The inquiry heard that, at one point, the “unauthorised” route involved a clamber over the very top of a bridge “main leg”, where the handrails had completed rotted away. Further along, though the team did not know it, two sections of floor grating were completely missing.

Clearly distressed, Mr Muir said: “I knew it was wrong but I went with it. I don’t know why I agreed.”

Mr Muir, who told the inquiry he had worked on the bridge for seven years before the accident, said he felt “apprehensive” as he and Mr MacDonald, 52, helped each other over the main leg – a manoeuvre that left them exposed at the very top of the structure.

He said that, after making their way over the barrier, he and Mr MacDonald continued along the route, which Mr McGinley had already taken.

Mr Muir said he was slower at moving down the walkway than the other men, and a gap of about 40ft formed between him and Mr MacDonald.

Wiping away tears, he said: “Rab [Mr MacDonald] was about 30 or 40 feet in front of me – I was just slower.

“I could see that Rab was using the hand rails and he was carrying his bag in front of him.

“Then I just saw the black bag go up in the air. I knew when the bag went up, he had just dropped and fallen. “I shouted to Joe, ‘Rab’s fell – he is dead’.”

Mr Muir said he made his way back up the walkway to where he had collected his gear at the start, before making his way off the bridge. He said: “I was just in a state. I couldn’t walk.”

When asked if he would have taken the short-cut had he known about the missing gratings, he replied: “No way.”

On Monday, the inquiry heard that Mr McGinley, who had gone ahead, had got over the gap in the walkway by edging across with his feet placed sideways on the empty angle-iron which had supported the missing grating. Then he had kicked a hole in plastic sheeting surrounding the work area to get access from the unauthorised approach route.

The inquiry continues.