CONTRACT work on the delayed ferries at Ferguson's shipyard ground to a halt after a man received an electric shock from a live wire onboard one of the unfinished ships, it has emerged.
The casualty was conveyed to accident and emergency after the incident - which has been described by a yard source as a "wake-up call", the Greenock Telegraph reports.
Bosses at contracted industrial solutions company BGEN, who employ the worker, ordered their staff off the job and have refused to allow them to return until they are "satisfied" about on site safety.
An investigation into the incident has been carried out by Ferguson bosses.
It is reported that the electrical work - which was immediately halted following the incident on July 13 - is due to resume today.
A yard source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the BGEN worker got an "electric shock" as fitting out work continues onboard MV Glen Sannox.
The source said: "There was a cable hanging down from the ceiling on one of the decks and the poor guy inadvertently touched it.
"Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt but the thoughts among people here is that it could have been a lot worse.
"I heard that there was a meeting about what happened, but I don't know what the outcome was.
"There is understandable concern about safety when something like this happens.
"The guy got an electric shock and had to be taken to hospital.
"It has been a bit of a wake-up call for everyone here."
The contractor involved in the incident is understood to be unharmed and was given the all clear by doctors.
John Sugden, chairmen at BGEN, has today vowed to work with Ferguson Marine bosses to prevent the incident from ever happening again.
Sugden said: “On July 13 one of our colleagues received a minor electrical shock.
“Our colleague, whilst affected by the event, was thankfully unharmed.
“We are working with our colleagues and Ferguson Marine, the owner of the safe system of working, to ensure such an event cannot happen again.
“Work will not be restarted on site until we are satisfied robust procedures are in place to avoid any further incidents of this nature.
“The safety of our colleagues remains our first priority.”
A Ferguson Marine spokesperson said: “We understand that regrettably an electrical contractor working in the yard made contact with a live wire of a minor system which resulted in a minor incident, in which the individual was shaken but not hurt.
“We are taking the incident very seriously and have already investigated what happened to ascertain the root cause and to determine if any additional safety measures are required by ourselves or our contractors and have dealt with this with the seriousness it requires.
“We take all health and safety incidents seriously and despite the contactor stating he was ok as a precaution the individual was taken to get checked out at A&E with the results of the checks being all clear and he returned to work immediately.”
