A 68-year-old gardener died after falling onto a bamboo garden cane while trimming hedges, a fatal accident inquiry has heard. Norman Mackenzie fell backwards onto the cane, which pierced his groin and left a fragment of his jeans embedded deep inside the wound, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Details of the Accident
The injury happened while Mr Mackenzie was trimming hedges at Darnaway Castle near Forres on September 17, 2024. Despite pulling himself free and continuing to work for the rest of the day, the father of two developed a rapidly spreading infection. Four days later, he died at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary from multi-organ failure, septic shock and necrotising fasciitis – a flesh-eating bacterial infection.
Sheriff David Harvie found that the accident could realistically have been avoided had a safer working platform been used instead of a step ladder positioned beside the edge of a sunken flower bed.
Sequence of Events
The inquiry heard Mr Mackenzie, who had worked for Moray Estates for around 40 years, misjudged the bottom step of the ladder as he climbed down. He stumbled backwards into the flower bed, where a bamboo cane penetrated his groin. Believing the injury was not serious, he pulled the cane from his body, rested briefly and then returned to work before going home for lunch and completing the day's duties.
He attended Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin two days later after suffering increasing pain and swelling. Scans showed the injury reached from the scrotum towards the abdomen, but did not reveal that a small piece of denim from his jeans had been driven into the wound.
Medical Deterioration and Surgery
By the following day, his condition had deteriorated sharply. Blood tests showed severe infection, and emergency surgery was carried out at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where surgeons discovered widespread necrotising fasciitis and recovered a fragment of torn denim from the wound. Large areas of dead tissue from his lower abdomen, groin and scrotum had to be removed in an attempt to halt the infection.
Despite intensive care treatment, Mr Mackenzie died on September 21. The inquiry heard evidence that earlier surgery might, with hindsight, have been beneficial if the contamination had been known. However, Sheriff Harvie concluded there was insufficient evidence to find that the clinical decisions made by NHS Grampian caused or contributed to Mr Mackenzie's death.
Findings and Recommendations
The sheriff identified failures in workplace supervision and the use of inappropriate equipment. He found there was no clear responsibility for supervising Mr Mackenzie and that he had effectively been left to assess risks himself despite restrictions on the work he was supposed to be carrying out.
Following the accident, Moray Estates removed bamboo canes from its sunken gardens and flower beds, tightened accident reporting procedures, strengthened supervision arrangements and reviewed its risk assessments with external health and safety advisers.
Sheriff Harvie made no formal recommendations, noting that significant changes had already been implemented by both Moray Estates and NHS Grampian following Mr Mackenzie's death. The sheriff offered his condolences to both Mr Mackenzie’s family and friends.
