Glasgow Prestwick Airport Limited has been fined GBP144,050 following the death of a man who he fell while loading cargo from an aircraft as he was using a pallet loader in January 2023.

The man had positioned the loader, and was repositioning a corroded guardrail on it when it gave way, causing him to fall 10 metres onto the tarmac.

The company pled guilty to a breach of health and safety legislation and accepted that they failed to ensure that the pallet loader was maintained and in good repair.

The Health Safety and Executive (HSE) investigation found that one of the guardrail posts had completely fractured and there were visible signs of significant corrosion, discolouration and flaking white paint around the area.

Welds on the guardrail posts contained defects which would allow moisture in and “creating a corrosive environment and speeding up deterioration”.

“There was no record of any modification or repair to the loader guardrail involving welding and the maintenance programme in place at the time did not cover the parts of the guardrail where failure or deterioration could lead to health and safety risks,” HSE states.

Since the accident, checks of guardrails on platform loaders have been added to the list of checks conducted during the annual service and inspection schedule and the failed guardrail was replaced with a new rail from the manufacturer.