A FARMER died after he plunged 65ft through a milking shed onto a concrete floor, a sheriff has ruled.

William McLean, 55, was working on the shed at his farm near Campbeltown, Argyll, clearing away foliage from between asbestos sheets.

His wife had been at the farm but warned McLean not to go back on the roof until another worker was available.

But he returned to work and placed his weight on a fragile area which caused the roof to give way.

His son found him lying unconscious and bleeding heavily and raised the alarm.

Emergency services raced to the scene in September 2022 and McLean was airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

He was kept in hospital for over a week but after showing no sign of improvement his life support machine was switched off and he passed away surrounded by family.

His cause of death was ruled as a traumatic brain injury as a result of the fall.

A fatal accident inquiry at Campbeltown Sheriff Court has now found his death could have been prevented.

Sheriff Euan Cameron said the use of two crawl boards could have avoided the accident taking place.

He also ruled there had been a failure to implement a safe system of work which would have minimised the risk of falling.

In a written judgment, Sheriff Cameron said: “Having considered the evidence I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the deceased deliberately or inadvertently placed his body weight directly onto a section of the fragile roof surface of the milking shed which was not supported by an underlying beam.

“The reasons for Mr McLean doing so are unknown but as a consequence of this action, the fragile roof surface gave way and he fell some distance onto the concrete floor of the shed.

“He sustained catastrophic head injuries which resulted in his death.”

The sheriff added: “In all the circumstances, I consider that a reasonable precaution which Mr McLean could have taken would have been the use of two crawl boards to move over the surface of the roof.

“Such a precaution would not have been prohibitively expensive or time-consuming to implement and would have obviated the need for Mr McLean to ever put his body weight directly onto the fragile roof surface.

“In my judgment, this would have been a reasonable precaution for Mr McLean to take and there is a real and lively possibility that his accident might have been avoided had he done so.”
Sheriff Cameron expressed his condolences to the McLean family for their loss.

Following the publication of the determination, procurator fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on fatalities investigations for the Crown Office, said: “We note and welcome the Sheriff’s determination.

“The procurator fiscal ensured that the full facts and circumstances of Mr McLean’s death were provided at the mandatory fatal accident inquiry.”