Contractor AWG Construction Services has this week been cleared of breaching health and safety regulations by Edinburgh Sheriff Court after the death of an electrician.
Garry Auld, 45, died while he was working on flats at Queens Quay in Leith last January. His body was found at the bottom of a lift shaft.

Auld, a father of four, had been working as a subcontractor on the site for Hills Electrical when his body was found 50 ft below where his tools had been left.

AWG Construction Services, formerly Morrison Construction, had been accused of breaching a regulation of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The court heard that an empty lift shaft was blocked by one guardrail, when by law it should have been shut off with at least two guards and a floorboard. However, Sheriff John Horsburgh ruled that there was insufficient evidence to put the charge to the jury.

Horsburgh said that the Crown had not shown that Morrison Construction had been in control of Auld's work. The court also heard that Morrison had contacted a scaffolding firm to fit a double guardrail to the lift shaft the day before the incident.

Auld was pronounced dead at the scene and a full health and safety investigation was subsequently launched.