An offshore firm has been handed a £267,000 (US$358,000) fine after a long-running investigation by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a rig crewman was killed when he fell through a missing deck grate and was lost to the North Sea.
Ensco Offshore UK (EO UK) was responsible for the operation of the Valaris 121 installation when the incident occurred on January 22, 2023.
Jason Thomas, 50, from South Wales, was an experienced offshore worker with around 16 years in the industry. At the time of his death, he was employed by Ensco Services, a wholly owned company of EO UK, where he had progressed from roustabout to deck foreman and then crane operator.
After he went missing on January 22, 2023, an HM coastguard search was launched and called off the following day, though his body was never recovered. HSE carried out a full investigation to find out what happened.
A thorough investigation by HSE found that the grating panel had not been secured in line with the original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM) specifications, and that later inspections had not checked the deployment of clips, which are used to secure gratings to their substructures and stop them coming loose.
On the morning of the accident, the rig’s hull was afloat and under tow towards Dundee for maintenance. As the day progressed, weather conditions deteriorated significantly, with windspeeds exceeding 30 miles per hour (48 kilometres per hour) and wave heights well above five metres.
Mr Thomas, who was supervising the deck team during his shift, completed water integrity checks with a colleague at around 14:00. Both men had taken water over their boots during the checks.
Mr Thomas was observed removing his coveralls and leaving his hard hat and gloves near the airlock door before changing into training shoes.
At approximately 14:30, he was seen taking a break in one of the staff lounges. Around 15 minutes later, a mechanic entered carrying a lifebuoy that had become detached from its holder on the main deck.
Mr Thomas told him to leave it in the lounge and that he would, "deal with it". He was last seen at around 15:05 leaving the lounge with a cup of coffee and his mobile phone.
At around 16:00, a colleague in the boot room heard a loud noise from outside. On opening the door to deck one, he found that the grating immediately outside had been displaced, leaving a void above the waters of the North Sea.
The control room was alerted immediately, but repeated tannoy calls failed to locate Mr Thomas. HM Coastguard was eventually contacted several hours later, shortly before 21:00.
During the subsequent search of the rig, Mr Thomas’s hard hat, gloves and radio were found near the airlock door. His coveralls were never recovered. A search and rescue operation was launched under the direction of HM Coastguard but was called off the following day.
Mr Thomas’s mother subsequently obtained a presumed death certificate through the Welsh Courts, confirming that he died on January 22, 2023. She passed away shortly after receiving this confirmation.
The HSE investigation further concluded that wave action over the course of the afternoon had applied sufficient upward force to the grating to cause the fixings to fail and displace it. The possibility of malicious interference was considered but ruled out following examination at HSE’s Buxton scientific facility, where no tool marks were found on the fixings or clips.
Following the incident, the company replaced all polymer grating across its fleet with galvanised steel grating.
EO UK pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. At Aberdeen Sheriff’s Court on May 18, 2026, the company was fined £267,000 with an added victim surcharge of £20,025 (US$26,885) also imposed taking the total payable to £287,025 (US$385,351).
