Workman killed as dumper truck overturns in bottling plant horror

A WORKMAN was killed in a horrific accident when a dumper truck overturned at the site of a new £86 million bottling plant.

A police officer attempted to revive the workman after the accident at drink giant Diageo's plant in Leven, Fife, but he was declared dead at the scene at 12:50pm yesterday.

Health and Safety Executive investigators were called in to establish exactly how the accident happened. His details were not being released until next of kin had been informed but he was understood to have been a sub-contractor.

A Fife police spokesman said: "It would appear that the dead man was the driver of the vehicle which overturned.

"We are continuing to investigate the death."

The overall building project is managed by construction firm Rok who closed the site down immediately as a full probe was launched. A spokesperson for Rok said: "Everyone here would like to express deepest sympathy to the family of our colleague who died in this tragic accident.

"We have taken immediate steps to close the site and will be providing support to any member of the team affected by this sad news.

"We would like to thank the outstanding police officers who administered CPR.

"We will now be working with the Police, procurator fiscal and Health and Safety Executive so the circumstances surrounding this tragic accident can be ascertained."

Diageo's plant at Banbeath survived a jobs cull which saw the closure of the company's facilities at Kilmarnock and Glasgow Port Dundas last year.

The company is investing 86m pounds to expand the Leven plant, creating 400 new jobs and expanding capacity to 30 million cases a year.

Some 150 have been employed in the construction phase creating a new bottling hall, roads, drainage and infrastructure at the Leven site.

Last night a Diageo spokesperson said they were fully aware of the incident. A spokesman said: "We can confirm an incident took place this afternoon.

"Our thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time."

The Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed that an ambulance crew attended the scene following an emergency call at 12:50pm, but had been unable to do anything to help save the worker. A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive added: "We are aware of the incident and are investigating."

The reconstruction of the Leven plant has been dogged by controversy, due to the company's earlier decision to close its Johnnie Walker operations in Kilmarnock, a decision which sparked a major protest from staff, local community figures, MPs and MSPs.

The reconstruction of the site also attracted attention when the firm began a cull of roe deer which had been roaming free on the site.