The man who died after falling through an open hole on a rig’s deck built the safety barrier himself, a court has heard.
BP (LON: BP) is on trial for breaching safety rules after Sean Anderson, 43, fell 72ft (22m) through an open grating on its Unity platform in 2014.
The trial at Aberdeen’s sheriff court was told Mr Anderson, a multi-skilled scaffolder with rope access qualifications, would have known why the safety barrier had been erected and that it was safe-guarding an open hole on the deck.
In her closing statement, fiscal Kristina Kelly told the jury that BP had a duty to ensure the contractors working on Unity were not exposed to risk, doing so in “so far as is reasonably practicable”.
She said: “BP put those workers at risk for the eight days running up to the 4 September 2014; by not having suitable and sufficient control measures in respect of open gratings on Unity.”
She said warning signs, or a cover on the grating could have been in place, adding:
“Sean Anderson’s family fully expected him to come home safely.”
The court was told by Ms Kelly that BP’s procedures had now changed and any open gratings were now covered, she said these were “mistakes they have now learned from.”
She urged the jurors to convict BP saying “they should have done more”.
Sean Anderson had been employed by Cape Industrial Services to carry out fabric maintenance work on Unity and had been tidying up an area of lower deck of the platform when the accident happened at 4am on September 4, 2014.
© Supplied by Sparrows/ IneosThe 43-year-old multi-skilled scaffolder fell about 72ft (22m) through an open hole on the rig’s deck into the water below, suffering fatal head injuries.
BP’s defence counsel Murdo Macleod KC, in his summing up, told the trial this had been a “terrible tragedy”, but “not one BP should be held responsible for”.
He told the jury that crossing any hard barrier was “strictly forbidden” and was a sack-able offence, and the one rule “everyone gets drilled in to them”.
Mr Macleod said: “There was no reason for anyone to be at the barrier area at night, as all the work was done there at day.”
He rejected the claim that money or cost had anything to do with the case, adding: “Is it really about money that planks were not put down over the opening? Or course it isn’t.”
Mr Macleod told the court that the risks of replacing the gratings “maybe 12 times” were “disproportionally high” when working over a seven day period, and “It was not practicable to do this”, adding: “an effective barrier was crucial.
© Supplied by Kenny Elrick/DC ThomThe court was told the conditions that night had been foggy and dark and Mr Anderson had not been found wearing a life jacket, harness or survival suit.
A post mortem later showed the cause of death was serious injuries to his head and chest sustained as a result of a “descent into the sea” from the oil installation. It was recorded that he had suffered very severe and “predictably immediately” fatal head injuries, with extensive fracturing of the skull.
Toxicology results showed no signs of alcohol, drugs or gas poisoning – and no signs of natural diseases that would have resulted in his death.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan, is expected to send the jury out for deliberation on Friday.