A company has admitted safety failings which led to the death of a worker at its premises in East Kilbride.
James Longair, 52, suffered catastrophic head injuries while helping to move pipes at the yard in Kelvin Industrial Estate.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday, IODS Pipe Clad Limited admitted an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The tragedy occurred in September 2017 while Mr Longair was assisting a forklift truck driver.
The court heard he was struck on the head by a wooden bearer which had been knocked into the air by a falling pipe.
Colleagues rushed to his aid and Mr Longair was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, but he died the next day.
The company, which supplies pipes to the oil industry, accepted its system of work in relation to the movement of pipes within the yard was unsafe.
It had led to a situation where a pipe being moved by a forklift could “roll away in an uncontrolled manner”.
Since the accident the firm has used slings to eliminate the risk of pipes rolling.
It has introduced a five-metre exclusion zone around pipes being moved and it is now a one-man job, with no one allowed to assist the forklift driver as Mr Longair was doing on the fateful day.
IODS employs 78 people at two sites in East Kilbride.
Its chief executive and finance director were in court as the company’s lawyer expressed sympathy to relatives and friends of Mr Longair who were also present for the hearing.
The lawyer said that, while the company accepted it was at fault, the system used at the time was “industry-wide practice” and acknowledged as such by the Health and Safety Executive.
She added: “It was not intended that an employee should place himself where he (Mr Longair) did.”
The company has no previous convictions for safety breaches and since Mr Longair’s death has invested in new equipment in order to “make itself an industry leader in the safe movement of pipes”.
The lawyer stated: “Mr Longair’s death has had a profound effect on everyone at the company.
“IODS has the highest regard for health and safety, particularly in relation to employees, and I would submit that this tragic incident was very much isolated in nature.”
Sheriff David Bicket told the court he wished time to consider the level of penalty to impose and continued the case until September 12.
