Colin Thwaites, 61, died on 21 October 2024 while working at Lochaline Quartz Sand Limited’s underground mine on the Morvern Peninsula in the Highlands.

Mr Thwaites, who had spent his entire career in mining and was the mine’s only time-served electrician, had arrived for his day shift to help restore power following damage caused by Storm Ashleigh. He 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 Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Mines and Quarries Unit carried out an investigation, with inspectors arriving at the mine the following day. Their findings identified a series of serious failings in how the fan had been modified, commissioned and maintained.

Lochlaine Quartz Sand Limited, of European Technical Centre, Hall Lane, Lathom, in Ormskirk, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £150,000 and told to pay a victim surcharge of £11,250 at Inverness Sheriff Court on 16 June 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.”