An open verdict has been recorded at the inquest of a man who drowned after falling into a water tank at a South WestWater site near Falmouth Docks.

A jury heard that steps could have been taken which would have prevented Mr Geach's death, if issues about working on the tanks had been recognised by those higher up the company.

South West Water employee Robert Geach, 54, from Mongleath Road, died on December 30, 2013, after falling into the tank while un-stalling the sand filtration system, which meant leaning through an inspection hatch on top of the unit.

The inquest heard that although an internal health and safety survey had been carried out in 2009-2010, the tanks had not been inspected as their use had not been raised by operatives with David Allan, who had carried out the audit.

Concerns were also raised about the company's lone worker policy, which involved an automated system with an operative ID and pin number, which would attempt to contact a lone worker before raising the alarm with a call centre, and then an on-call operative.

Following this system, the alarm was first raised at 5pm after three unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr Geach on his mobile phone, an operative arrived at the site at around 7pm and found Mr Geach at around 8pm.

Since Mr Geach's death, Richard Gilpin, the head of waste water services for the company, said the company had imnproved health and saefty measures around working on the tanks and lone worker policies.

The controls Mr Geach was operating are now only accessible through a small "cat-flap" opening, he said, to prevent anyone falling in.

The company now also uses a TWIG lone worker alarm system, managed by Securitas.

In a statement read out on the first day of the hearing at Epiphany House, Truro, Mr Geach's widow Sylvia said: "I don't think that the lone worker system is suitable for people working in dangerous conditions and locations."