The tragic death of an Aberdeenshire farmer acted as a “wake up call” for bosses at one of Scotland’s biggest agricultural feed firms.
John Forbes, director of East Coast Viners Grain, told Scotland’s traffic commissioner that major changes had been made after David Leslie was crushed to death at the Drumlithie site in 2013.
Mr Leslie, of Blairton Farm, near Balmedie, died when a fully loaded two-tonne grain bin fell on him from a forklift truck on his 49th birthday.
And yesterday Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken opened her own investigation into the firm, after an inquiry by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) brought a string of fresh allegations to light.
East Coast Viners employees have been accused of falsifying driver time sheets, not maintaining their fleet of HGVs and of using vehicles for third party goods haulage.
Now Miss Aitken is considering if she should revoke the firm’s goods vehicle operator licence, or allow their application to renew it.
If the licence is revoked, thousands of farmers across Scotland and the north of England who depend on the firm for their livestock feed could be at risk.
Yesterday, Mr Forbes assured Miss Aitken that steps had been taken to improve the company – pointing to the appointment of health and safety manager Ryan Daly.
She heard Mr Daly had brought about major changes to the “culture” at the farm.
Referring to himself and his nephew Graham, who is the firm’s commercial manager, Mr Forbes said: “When we had the fatality, that was a real wake up call to myself and Graham. We knew we had to do something about the management of the company.
“We weren’t happy at all and that was a tremendous shock to us that it could happen in our company. We had health and safety before that but that was really a shock.
“Ryan joined us and he’s brought suitability in management that we badly needed. We were sorry that the failings had got so bad, I suppose, before we did anything about it.
“I was so disappointed, that is why we have changed it and put in Ryan. We started that process before we started being inspected.”
He insisted the accusation from the DVSA that drivers were “card swapping” to disguise the number of hours they were working had been a shock to upper management.
“If we’d known how damn serious it was at the time I would have stopped it,” he told Miss Aitken.
“We have now changed the structure, we now have Ryan in charge. It has taken us a while to get here. We are absolutely delighted with how, in the last six months, it has gone.”
Mr Daly admitted that health and safety practices had been “substandard” prior to his arrival, but insisted that they had improved dramatically.
He said: “Ten years ago it would have been fine. Times have moved on.
“I do have the utmost respect for Mr Forbes, I know how much he wants to change this business.
“Now we are pushing the standard where I think we can be pushing for accreditation quite soon – I believe in the next six months.”
East Coast Viners’ solicitor, Neil Kelly, urged Miss Aitken to approve the company’s operator licence, and said its loss would have a “fundamental impact on the whole of the business”.
He was echoed by Mr Forbes jun, who said if the firm lost its operator licence “it would be difficult” to provide for their customers.
The inquiry was adjourned until March 1, where it will resume at the traffic commissioner’s office in Edinburgh.
In the meantime, the firm has been granted permission to continue operating until Miss Aitken reaches a decision.
It was reported incorrectly previously that the family of farmer David Leslie, of Blairton Farm, near Balmedie, who died in an incident at East Coast Viners Grain, was paid £240,000 by the company. In fact, East Coast Viners Grain was fined £240,000 following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive. We apologise for the error and distress caused to Mr Leslie’s family.