A WEST of Scotland firm has been charged with health and safety offences as a result of a fatal accident at a Fife farm.

The case against Carntyne Transport, of Springburn, Glasgow, was called at Cupar Sheriff Court yesterday, and was continued without plea for four weeks.

The company is facing a charge which alleges that on February 8, at Vicarsford Farm, Leuchars, it failed to ensure the health and welfare of an employee, and failed to provide guardrails on top of a tanker that would prevent a fall, or to provide valves that could be operated from the ground.

It is alleged this resulted in a situation where in the course of his employment James Hutchinson, now deceased, fell from the top of the tanker and was so severely injured that he died.

A second charge alleges that the firm failed to make a suitable risk assessment.