Electrician died after being struck by fan blades while working in underground sand mine in Highlands

The operator of Europe’s only quartz sand mine has been fined after an electrician was killed while working in the Scottish Highlands.

Colin Thwaites died on October 21, 2024, after being struck by the blades of a mine BORA fan.

The 61-year-old was helping to restore power following damage caused by Storm Ashleigh on the Morvern Peninsula.

Mr Thwaites, who had spent his entire career in mining and was the mine’s only time-served electrician, was working alongside an apprentice to disconnect a communications cable near one of the mine’s BORA fans when the incident occurred.

His colleague found him trapped in the fan, having suffered fatal injuries.

The sister fan of the one involved in the incident – the two had originally been together as one unit HSE

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Mines and Quarries Unit carried out an investigation at the mine the following day and identified a series of serious failings in how the fan had been modified, commissioned and maintained.

The fan involved had originally formed part of a single in-line assembly unit with a sister fan.

A decision was taken at the mine to split this single unit into two separate fans in June 2020, with the hazards of the modification not properly identified or managed.

The splitting of the unit left the rotating parts of the second fan significantly closer to its intake guard than was safe.

To cover the exposed intake, guards were fabricated on-site from two sheets of square-lattice metal mesh, which HSE inspectors determined to be poorly designed.

The metal bracing straps were fitted on the outside of the mesh panels rather than the inside, providing no additional structural strength. The exhaust end of the fan remained entirely unguarded.

When inspectors examined the fan the day after the incident, the intake guard was found to be severely degraded.

Significant areas of mesh were missing, particularly around the fan’s impeller hub.

Investigators found that if the guard had been properly designed and maintained, it would likely have prevented the fatal incident. The two fans had also not been listed on the mine’s Mechanical Asset Register and had not been checked during electrical inspections.

HSE took enforcement action against the company, who then engaged a specialist mining consultancy to achieve compliance.

Lochlaine Quartz Sand Limited pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £150,000.

The company was also ordered to pay a Victim Surcharge of £11,250 at Inverness Sheriff Court on June 16, 2026.

Kevin Wilson, HSE’s chief inspector of mines and quarries, said: “This was a tragic and entirely preventable death.

“Colin Thwaites was a highly experienced mining professional with decades of service. He should have gone home to his family that day.

“Our investigation found that when the fan was modified, the risks were not identified. The guarding that was put in place was inadequate from the outset, and its deteriorating condition went unnoticed because there was no proper maintenance regime in place.

“Mine operators have clear legal duties to ensure equipment is safely commissioned and maintained. Where those duties are not met, the consequences can be fatal.”