Workplace injury: £100,000 compensation for family of roof fall worker

The family of a workman who died when he fell 50 feet from a new school roof has been awarded more than £100,000. James Weir, 38, fell to his death at Auchterarder High School in Perthshire in July 2002 after safety nets were removed without his knowledge.

Builder Robertson Construction has been ordered by the Court of Session to pay £103,975 compensation. The Elgin-based firm was previously fined £20,000 in a criminal case surrounding Mr Weir's death.

Judge Lord Glennie ruled on Tuesday that the compensation award should be greater than normal because of the very close relationship Mr Weir had with his family. His widow Audrey, 40, was awarded £35,000, while his children Steven and Stacie were each granted £17,000. Further sums to recognise the contribution Mr Weir made to the family home in East Kilbride and to cover the cost of his funeral amounted to nearly £35,000.

Lord Glennie said: "The pursuer and her late husband had been married for some 15 years at the time of his death. On the evidence before me the marriage was a particularly close one."

The judge described Mr Weir as "very much a family man", saying of his widow: "She gave the impression of a close family life in which the deceased was involved with domestic affairs and gardening as well as being a good father to his children. She felt that substantially all of his earnings came into the family and that he kept little for himself."

Mr Weir, of Rydal Grove, died after he fell through a gap in the roof of the school while he was part of the team building it. A subsequent fatal accident inquiry ruled that a series of errors were made in the building process which helped cause the accident.

The Robertson Group was fined at Perth Sheriff Court after it admitted breaching health and safety rules at the site.

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