Union reps called yesterday for a legal overhaul around workplace deaths after an oil contractor was fined belatedly for a fatal safety breach, writes Conrad Landin in Aberdeen.

Lee Bertram fell to his death from a North Sea platform after a sharp hatch edge slashed the ropes suspending him from above.

Suffolk-based contractor Bilfinger Salamis was fined £100,000 at a court hearing in Aberdeen.

The maintenance worker had been abseiling down the rig to remove fallen objects below the deck.

A Health and Safety Executive report said that planners should have identified the edge as sharp and taken preventative measures.

Maritime union RMT offshore organiser Jake Molloy told the Star: “We welcome the fact that the courts have seen fit to hold the company to account.

“That said, it has taken the best part of four years to get there.”