Hotel partners fined after LT fatal garden bench accident
A 67-year-old American tourist suffocated in an accident at a 19th century country house hotel when a heavy garden bench he was sitting on toppled backwards, pinning him between it and a wall which had knocked him unconscious.
Patrick McGuire was on a short break from Wisconsin with his wife Anna and two friends in April 2019 to the Glengarry Castle Hotel near Invergarry on the shores of Loch Oich.
Its owners, Robert and Donald MacCallum and the late Janette MacCallum, were prosecuted after a health and safety and police investigation into the death.
At Inverness Sheriff Court, they admitted a breach of the Health and Safety Act.
The charge read that having previously recognised the risk of metal benches sinking into the grass and becoming unstable, they failed to have in place suitable inspections and maintenance to ensure the benches were on a suitable stable hard surface. The charge continued that Mr McGuire sat back on the bench situated on the grass, tipped backwards, then fell backwards, striking his head on the wall rendering him unconscious.
Sheriff Gary Aitken heard this caused him to be trapped between the 72kg bench and the wall, causing positional asphyxiation and his death.
The company was fined £14,000 after the headline penalty of £21,000 was discounted because the partners accepted full responsibility at the earliest stage.
Sheriff Aitken joined with the MacCallums in expressing their condolences to Mr McGuire’s family and friends.
He added: “No-one goes on holiday expecting not to come back. There can be fewer low risk activities than sitting outside on a garden bench.
“It is a tragedy this event occurred and in no sense is the penalty a reflection on the value of Mr McGuire’s life. Noone can put a value on human life.”
Fiscal
Urquhart depute told the
Roderick court Mr
McGuire went outside about 10.30pm to take photographs and have a cigarette and never returned.
“His wife retired to bed waking at approximately 12.30am noticing her husband had not returned.
“She tried unsuccessfully to call him, then set about searching the hotel for him.
“She searched the building, then extended her search to the hotel grounds. She found him lying on his back with his head touching a nearby wall, in a seated position on a bench.
“His head was up against the wall with his neck bent forward and his chin on his chest. She checked for signs of breathing and felt for a pulse, however, she could not detect either and noted he felt cold to the touch.”
Mr Urquhart said the bench was structurally sound and fit for purpose, provided it was founded on a hard surface.
The emergency services were contacted and investigations were subsequently carried out by Highland Council, the Health and Safety Executive and the police.
Defence solicitor for the hotel Jaimie McGready told the court the hotel had previously identified a sinking risk to the cast iron benches and embedded wooden blocks in the grass to try and stabilise them.
A risk assessment of the hotel and its grounds was also carried out by their insurers and the risk was not identified.
“The risk was not an obvious one, even to the experienced risk assessors,” added Ms McGready. “The hotel has now introduced increased staff training and are ensuring no guests are outdoors when the doors are locked.
“The benches have been replaced with wooden ones on concrete slabs and maintenance records are being kept. This incident was an isolated one, devastating and a great shock for the family. The circumstances here are unusual and extremely rare.
“Safety of its guests has always been paramount and the business has an unblemished record.”