A narrative verdict was recorded at the inquest of a Calne silo worker this morning.

Paul Sharp, 31, was working for Silocare at the Forte Marsh industrial estate in Calne in August 2006.

He died after cleaning the inside of a silo.

HM Coroner David Masters expressed concern that the proper equipment wasn't available to pull Mr Sharp out of the silo.

"It should be so that all necessary equipment is available on site. I think there should be a review to answer that. The should be advanced planning for the unique jobs this company undertakes," he said.

Silocare had been contracted to clean a silo owned by Southern Valley Feeds, which held vegetable oil.

But, Mr Sharp, from Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, is thought to have died of heat exhaustion caused by the hot water he was using to clean the silo, which would have made the temperature in the silo around 50 degrees centigrade.

The inquest at Trowbridge Town Hall heard Mr Sharp had been cleaning the silo for about 15 minutes before he reached the bottom and prepared to come back up.

Communication between Mr Sharp and colleagues Darren Millar and Roy Harkness, who were at the top of the silo, stopped and Mr Millar and Mr Harkness received no answer to their calls.

He was pulled up by the two but, despite attempts to revive him, failed to regain consciousness.

Pathologist Janette Armstrong, who performed the autopsy on Mr Sharp at Great Western Hospital in Swindon, said she believed the hot conditions led to respirator arrest and then cardiac arrest.

She added it was found Mr Sharp had a minor heart problem, right ventricle displacia syndrome, which, although was not the cause of his death, could have contributed to it.

It was originally thought Mr Sharp died due to asphyxiation.

12:40pm Wednesday 21st May 2008

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