Forestry worker crushed by log in 'tragic accident'

The death of a Scottish Borders forestry worker who was crushed by a log was a "tragic accident", a sheriff has ruled.

Andrew Marshall, 71, died from a head injury and compression of his chest after a wooden log pile became unstable.

The accident - which no-one witnessed - happened on a track about 150 yards from the disused Bowmont Forest Sawmill, near Kelso, on June 11, 2015.

A Health and Safety Executive investigation said there were no breaches of legislation arising from the incident.

Mr Marshall regularly visited the sawmill even after retiring as a long-serving forester from Floors Farms, which is part of Roxburgh Estates, to fell trees and cut up logs.

A fatal accident inquiry at Jedburgh Sheriff Court was told that the grandfather-of-three spoke to timber yard manager Andrew Agnew, 52, on the morning of his death asking about getting the use of a forklift to remove a large log from the top of the pile which had become dislodged.

Mr Agnew said he would assist after lunch but when he arrived at the log pile shortly after 2pm, he saw Mr Marshall's white pick-up truck was already at the location and thought he must have changed his mind and decided to move it himself.

Timber contractor Thomas Heatlie, 57, who had built the six feet high log pile a year before the accident, estimated that about 30 or 40 per cent of the stack had been cutaway, making it unstable.

Estate forestry manager Peter Darling, 56, said Mr Marshall was a regular visitor carrying out tree work to get logs for extra cash.

But he said: "I did not expect him to go onto that particular pile and cut them up. There has been work on both ends of it and it has undermined the pile of logs."

Mr Darling said he had previously agreed that the pile of logs would be moved by Mr Heatlie back into the yard where it would be safer to work on.

Depute fiscal Rosie Cook said there were no witnesses to the accident and Mr Marshall's life was pronounced extinct by a paramedic at 3pm.

She said Mr Marshall had carried out work on the stack earlier that day removing a number of logs.

In his determination Sheriff Peter Paterson said the incident "was clearly a tragic accident", and that Mr Marshall was "a well-liked and experienced forester."

He said the cause of death was effectively concussion and compression to the chest due to the falling of the log.

He said there was no fault in the role of Roxburgh Estates or specifically Floors Farming Partnership in the circumstances surrounding the death.

The family of Mr Marshall, who lived at Heiton, near Kelso, said afterwards they had no issues with the outcome of the inquiry and described it as a "freak accident."