A worker who claimed he thought he was going to die in a fire at Longannet power station has failed in his bid to sue his former employer.
The man, identified only as MD, alleged he suffered chronic post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the blaze in 2009.
He was uninjured but feared the under-construction building he was working on was going to explode.
The Court of Session rejected his claim which would have seen him awarded £154,500 by AMEC Group.
However, Lady Wolffe commented that his case was “narrowly cast”, based on the number of exits only with no averment on grounds of failure in other aspects, such as training, risk assessment or signage.
The fire on March 23 2009 broke out in absorber unit 3, a 28-metre high building which the pursuer and around 40 others were working on that afternoon as part of the flue gas sulphurisation project.
The 59-year-old labourer claimed AMEC failed to provide sufficient means to exit the structure, which was almost complete.
The court heard he saw smoking coming from beneath him and a co-worker shouted to him there was a fire and to get down.
He was unable to get down scaffolding on the east side and could not see through the smoke on the north side.
He was so frightened he considered jumping but knew to do so would have been suicide.
It was around 15 to 25 minutes, he said, before he was rescued by a cherry picker.
When he was reached by personnel from OPUS Industrial Services the area was thick with black smoke and he was given oxygen as he was rescued.
The pursuer claimed that prior to the fire there had been exits at a number of sides of the building but on that date the only way to exit the roof was by stairs to the east, which were inaccessible because of the smoke and fire.
However, AMEC Group denied the allegation.
Following the fire a panel of inquiry was set up to examine the cause of the fire and make recommendations to avoid a recurrence.
AMEC said there were multiple routes of escape from the absorber which was encircled by two steel walkways.
They said they took all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the pursuer’s safety, but it was not possible to ensure that all exit routes were free from smoke in the event in a fire.
Lady Wolffe said the pursuer had failed to established liability on the part of AMEC Group.
She concluded that on a balance of probabilities there was another route off the absorber, which was demolished after the fire.
She also found that the risk of fire at that stage of construction was not foreseeable.
Longannet Power Station, owned by ScottishPower, closed in March.