North Sea worker fell to death 'through fragile flooring'

A North Sea worker fell more than 80ft (24m) to his death through the floor of a crane cab after a section of grating was removed, an investigation has found.

Lee Hulse, 32, was working on the Valaris 121 jackup drilling rig 140 miles (225km) east of Aberdeen when the incident happened in November last year.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that grating had been removed during cleaning, exposing the "fragile surface" of the cab floor.

The worker stepped on it and fell through, suffering fatal injuries. The HSE has served an improvement notice.

The HSE said a "suitable and sufficient" risk assessment for general cleaning activities in the crane cab on 14 November had not been carried out.

The improvement notice has been served against Ensco Offshore UK Ltd. Valaris is a trading name.

The death is still the focus of an ongoing HSE investigation.

Valaris previously said its priority was the safety and wellbeing of all personnel.

A spokesperson said the firm was carrying out work detailed in the HSE improvement notice.

They added: "Valaris 121 is operating safely, and Valaris' utmost priority remains our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of all our personnel."