Skerray man's death may have been avoided if Highland Council had replaced stanchions
The drowning of plumber David Bowes at the Kyle of Tongue in February 2010 - after his Toyota pick-up left the A838 causeway and ploughed through the bridge parapet into the water - could probably have been avoided had Highland Council timeously replaced sub-standard parapet stanchions.
Sheriff David Sutherland, in his determinations released today, following a Fatal Accident Inquiry in June last year, and subsequent written submissions, says: “The inescapable conclusion is that if there had been earlier replacement of the parapet, the probability is that this tragedy would not have occurred, the accident probably resulting in minor injury and damage.”
The Inquiry heard that Mr Bowes (46), of Glackbea, Skerray, died as the result of drowning shortly after 10am on 2 February 2010.
His vehicle struck the bridge parapet causing several of the stanchions to break and give way. As a result of the fractures, “the parapet failed to restrain the vehicle which left the bridge, falling into the water and coming to rest on its roof.”
The relatively limited amount of damage to the vehicle suggested that the impact had not occurred at high speed.
Tim Norman, BSc MSc, principal Materials Consultant with the Environmental Scientific Group, had prepared a report following his examination of stanchions and the base plate.
He stated that a “failure had occurred at the weld connection between the box section and base plates. The general quality of the workmanship with respect to welding was considered to be poor.”
He said the quality would not meet either modern welding standards or the standard expected at the time it was built in the early 1970s.
David Mackenzie, Chief Structual Engineer with Highland Council, said a general inspection was carried out on the bridge every three years.
In July 2005, an engineer with the council, L J Christie, had inspected the structure and had stated that “the bridge parapet should be replaced with a modern vehicle restraint system which conformed to current standards. Repairs should be carried out as a matter of urgency.”
Mr MacKenzie said Mr Christie had discussed the findings of his report with one of Mr MacKenzie’s team. He agreed that Mr Christie’s “severe action needed” was the highest priority ranking. He also noted that Mr Christie recommended that the parapet should be checked every six months.
A further report by civil engineers Faber Maunsell Ltd in September 2008 stated: “The parapet has deteriorated and the containment level is unclear. Should a vehicle incursion occur the parapet may not redirect the impacting vehicle as intended but instead break up resulting in impalement risks that would increase the risk of serious or fatal injuries.”
However, Faber Muansell also stated that there was very low risk as there were low traffic flows going over the bridge.
Questioned on why the six month inspections recommended appeared to stop in 2008, Mr MacKenzie stated that he had not taken that decision. The risk, as indicated by Faber Maunsell, was very low and therefore should be monitored. The Wick office of Highland Council, which had taken over from Golspie, decided to stop monitoring because the rate of deterioration of the stanchions had declined.
He explained that the Council knew that the parapet had to be replaced. It was, however, a question of weighing up recommendations against existing resources and having to prioritise outstanding works. A decision had been taken for major refurbishment of the bridge causeway and piecemeal stopgap work was not justified given the level of risk identified.
In conclusion, Sheriff Sutherland said: “While I appreciate the Council have competing claims on their budgets, at the very least there seems to have been an inordinate delay in implementing the recommendations of Mr Christie or, indeed, carrying out the risk assessment as recommended by Faber Maunsell. It is not clear why the Council’s Wick office decided to stop the six monthly checks and it is unfortunate that no written documentation is available to shed light on this.”
A spokesman for The Highland Council said: “The Council will be studying in detail the findings of the fatal accident inquiry.”He stated that the need to refurbish Kyle of Tongue causeway was recognised by the Council and major works had been included in its capital programme prior to the accident. Work had recently been completed, at a cost of £1.2 million, to replace the parapets and to carry out extensive concrete repairs.
* More on these findings in this Thursday's Northern Times