Falmouth company fined for putting lives at risk

The owner of a Falmouth marine maintenance company has been fined £10,000 for a raft of safety breaches which put one of its diver's lives atserious risk.

Kenneth Dunstan, who was trading as Mylor Marine Maintenance of Marlowe Bridge, was found to be in breach of four diving safety regulations, one of which presented such a serious risk that diving was stopped with immediate effect.

Truro Magistrates' Court heard on Friday (24th June) that the breaches were discovered during a spot inspection by the Health and Safety Executive in May last year. The prosecution argued that Mr Dunstan wasn't using properly qualified divers and failed to use the correct equipment. 

The failings were so serious that Mr Dunstan was issued with a Prohibition Notice stopping any further diving until the immediate concerns surrounding the lack of a standby diver were addressed. The inspectors also issued three Improvement Notices setting out other issues that needed to be addressed.

Speaking after the prosecution, HSE Inspector Bill Chilton said: "Working underwater can be unforgiving should anything go wrong. Therefore, diving projects need to be planned, the equipment needs to be suitable for the task and the divers and their support team need to be competent."

Kenneth Dunstan of Saltbox Road, Mylor Bridge, Falmouth pleaded guilty to breaching four regulations of the Diving at Work Regulations 1997 and was fined at total of £10,000 (£2,500 for each charge) with costs of £2,000.