Inquest hears workman’s tragic walk of death should never have happened

George Lowe said that like all workers on the project to repaint the bridge, Robert MacDonald would have been warned on starting work not to take unauthorised routes.

The fatal accident inquiry at Dunfermline Sheriff Court has already heard Mr MacDonald, 52, from Harthill, was part of a painting gang who all decided to take the route down a diagonal from one of the highest points on the structure in January 2010.

The short-cut was to avoid having to descend several levels by hoist and climb all the way back up again using a series of 19 ladders to get to the area where they were supposed to be working.

The inquiry heard that to access the unauthorised walkway, the gang of three men all had to climb “under or over” a pair of scaffolding poles that had been put in place to bar the route.

In pitch dark, Mr MacDonald fell though a section where the entire floor grating of the walkway was missing. He plummeted 150 feet to his death on scaffolding below the main train deck.

Mr Lowe, 38, giving evidence on the third day of the inquiry, said: “You are told in induction that the whole job is scaffold-based and you should only walk on the green walkways. You should never, ever cross something with a double hand rail.” Mr Lowe said that he was responsible for the workers on the bridge and he would routinely go on to the bridge during shifts to check on them.

He described how night shifts at the time of the accident were supposed to run from 9pm until 7am.

He said he was “shocked” to hear there were men working on the bridge, when he received a phone call from Archie Neilston, a grit remover, to say that there had been an accident.

He said: “Archie said they were in the middle of Inchgarvie [the middle cantilever of the bridge] and someone had fallen down the ladder access.”

The inquiry was adjourned until 13 December.