The death of a man crushed by a falling tree as his son watched in helpless horror was a ”tragic accident”, a sheriff has ruled.
Norman Robertson, a timber merchant who had worked in the industry for more than 40 years, died almost instantly when a 60ft tree fell on top of him as they worked on an estate near St Andrews in May.
A fatal accident inquiry held in Cupar this month heard the 67-year-old suffered massive ”crushing” injuries. Sheriff Charles Macnair, who heard the inquiry, has now issued his formal findings in a written statement.
”This was a tragic accident which occurred during tree-felling operations,” he reported. ”The deceased had long experience in this type of work, having run his own timber business prior to retirement.
”He had purchased an area of standing timber and on the morning of the accident he and his son were felling an area of that timber. While working on one tree, another tree which had been partially cut through fell on him.
”His son attempted to draw his attention to the falling tree but was unable to do so.”
Mr Robertson, from Springfield, was clearing land on the Brigton Estate owned by Tory MEP John Purvis when tragedy struck. His son, also Norman, was working with him at the time.
The 37-year-old told the inquiry how the pair had been attempting to fell the tree when the accident happened. He said a sledgehammer had snapped while they were using it to drive wedges into a cut in the trunk made with a chainsaw.
Mr Robertson Jr described how he was ”keeping an eye” on the half-cut tree while his father turned his attention to another trunk.
”My dad was in a bit of a hurry that day, to be honest, and the decision was made that I would watch the first tree and he would fell another one,” he said.
”The wind was swirling around and it whipped the unfelled tree up a bit and then it just snapped right off. I realised it was falling right in front of my dad so I shouted and screamed at him but he could not hear me. I started running toward him … but the tree struck him on the head and then crushed his shoulders. He ended up face down underneath the tree.”
Mr Robertson said he knew ”almost instantly” that his father had not survived the impact. ”There was blood coming from his mouth and his whole face was just blue, he said.
”I grabbed his chainsaw and cut a section from the tree so I could lift it off him. I then pulled him up so he could maybe breathe but I knew then he was dead.”
Mr Robertson Sr’s wife, Joyce, also gave evidence at the inquiry. She said the pair, who had been married for almost 43 years, had been due to travel to Europe for a three-month break just 10 days after the incident.
An affidavit produced by a forensic pathologist who carried out a post-mortem revealed Mr Robertson was killed by ”blunt force trauma caused by crushing by a falling tree”.
”It is not difficult to see how the accident happened,” Sheriff Macnair said. ”It was clearly very, very unfortunate and the consequences are very sad.
”An experienced man, somebody who had been doing his job for an extremely long time, made a mistake. All of us in our professions have made mistakes in the past but this mistake had particularly tragic consequences.”