A worker was killed dismantling a cleanroom at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) in November 2022.
In 2026, an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded that the company failed to adequately assess and manage the risks.
The accident occurred while the worker, Steven Tervit, was dismantling a structure the company had not originally installed.
The cleanroom, which had been used to house a welding robot, was a steel-framed structure with walls and roof constructed of polyurethane panels measuring 6.1m in height.
Food Process Engineering had been subcontracted to remove the panels as part of the wider dismantling operation.
Employed as a labourer by Food Process Engineering, Tervit had worked for the company for approximately 15 years, and was carrying out the dismantling.
Tervit had been working at a height of around four metres on a scissor lift, removing wall panels from a cleanroom at the NMIS at Westway Business Park, Porterfield Road.
During this, when the remaining panels fell and struck the platform, Tervit was thrown from the lift onto the concrete floor of the warehouse.
After the incident at the specialist technology centre, Tervit was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where he was found to have suffered a traumatic brain injury, rib fractures, lung contusions and fractures to his right thigh bone and left shin bone.
He died in hospital the following day.
Food Process Engineering pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £50,000 with a victim surcharge of £3,750 at Paisley Sheriff Court on 6 July 2026.
HSE inspector Amna Doherty said: “There was a lack of planning in terms of the risk and those being tasked with the job were not aware of the dangers posed to them. We will not hesitate to take action against those who fail to protect their workers.”
What was missed in the risk assessment of dismantling the cleanroom?
The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the wall panels, once the roof had been removed, had insufficient lateral support to maintain their structural stability.
HSE found that the company’s risk assessment and method statement did not adequately address the risk of unplanned collapse due to structural instability.
Although the company’s own method statement specified that ‘A-frame’ props or supports should be installed where necessary, no such props were present or in use on site at the time of the accident.
Once the roof had been removed, the wall panels had insufficient lateral support to maintain their structural stability
The company had carried out visual inspections of the exterior of the cleanroom prior to commencing work and proceeded on the assumption that it had been constructed to industry standard.
HSE established that this assumption was unsafe, as the disassembly of a structure built by a third party carried an inherent risk of latent defects that could elevate the risk of structural failure.
The company also failed to communicate its risk assessment and method statement to the employees carrying out the work, meaning workers on site were not adequately informed of the risks involved.
Falls while working at height remain the leading cause of workplace injury and death. New data published by HSE for 2025/26 revealed that 31 people died, representing around a quarter of all work-related deaths for the year.
