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Shipping firm fined for safety breaches after three deaths
A SHIPPING firm was fined £280,000 for safety breaches a judge said probably contributed to the deaths of three men at sea.
Finlay MacFadyen, 46, Robert O'Brien, 59, and Robert Ebertowski, 40, died after collapsing aboard the Immingham-based Viking Islay on September 23, 2007.
The men suffocated in an anchor chain locker due to the lack of oxygen in the tight compartment after entering the confined space to secure a banging chain which was keeping the crew awake.
A judge at Sheffield Crown Court today said if Vroon Offshore Services Limited had made sure the North Sea rescue support ship Viking Islay had an oxygen meter on board the deaths may have been prevented.
Judge Robert Moore heard Mr Ebertowski had gone through a hatch into the normally-sealed locker and, when he collapsed, Mr O'Brien probably went in to help him but was also overcome by the lack of oxygen.
Mr MacFadyen raised the alarm and then heroically tried to enter the small chamber wearing breathing apparatus, but could not get through the hatch.
He tried again, using another breathing device, but he too collapsed when it was dislodged.
All three men were airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary where they were pronounced dead.
Earlier this month, a jury cleared the ship's captain, Donald Fryer, from Hull, of failing to discharge his duties properly in such a manner as to cause the deaths.
But Vroon, which owns the Viking Islay, admitted three breaches of merchant shipping safety regulations.
Ian Lawrie, defending, said the company admitted its safety system was at fault and said it was a victim of its own complexity.
He said it was a thorough system which generated too much paperwork.
"If there's any criticism of this company, they are trying too hard rather than not trying at all or not trying enough," Mr Lawrie said.
Judge Moore said the most serious of these was the firm's failure to provide an oxygen meter despite a request by the captain six months before the accident.
The judge said: "If an oxygen meter had been provided, with the usual supply period of 28 days, after the written request, it would have become the usual thing to use it when opening the chain locker."
But he conceded: "There remains a possibility the men may still have opened this dangerous space and gone into it without using the meter."
A spokesman for Vroon said the firm would consider the judge's comments.
In a statement, the firm said: "The Company notes that the Judge accepted the measures implemented by them as appropriate to ensuring that there can be no re-occurrence of such an accident. Also that the Company had not tried to cut costs, had a safety conscious culture and had not tried to shirk from its responsibilities by pleading guilty to the charges laid before the Court.
"Of particular note in the comments of the Judge in the current action was the view that the Safety Management System was too complex and generated too much paperwork. This is something that the company will be considering in great detail going forward."
It added: "No measures taken can be of any real consolation to the families who lost their loved ones and to them our heartfelt condolences and sympathies continue to go out to them."
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