Oil giant BP has been fined £650,000 for health and safety failings after a worker died when he fell from an offshore platform into the North Sea.

Contractor Sean Anderson, 43, sustained fatal injuries when he fell through open grating on the lower deck of the firm’s Unity installation on 4 September 2014.

BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd was last week found guilty of a health and safety breach at Aberdeen Sheriff Court following an eight-day trial.

During the court case, the prosecutor led evidence showing that the company had failed to implement suitable and sufficient control measures in regards to open gratings on the lower deck.

Debbie Carroll, lead of health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “Sean Anderson’s death was entirely foreseeable and could have been avoided if BP had taken all reasonably practicable precautions.

“His death and the risk of fatal injury to which others were exposed cannot be understated.

“There were serious deficiencies in the safety arrangements adopted around the management of open gratings which BP should have identified.

“BP Exploration Operating Company Limited could have done more to address the risks which is shown by the post-incident changes in procedures.”

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Mr Anderson was part of a team carrying out routine maintenance on the Unity platform, which is more than 100 miles north-east of Aberdeen and was later sold as part of the Forties Pipeline System to Ineos in 2017.

He was from the Tyne and Wear area and was employed by industrial services firm Cape.

A Health and Safety Executive spokesperson said: “BP failed in their duty to have suitable and sufficient control measures in place in respect to open gratings on the platform.

“Ultimately these failures resulted in Mr Anderson’s death.”

BP said it was a “tragic incident”.

A spokesperson for the firm added: “While we know nothing can be said to change the pain felt by Sean Anderson’s family and friends, our deepest condolences remain firmly with them to this day.”

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