"We welcome the Sheriff's findings but we need to find some way of enshrining some of them in law, to prevent another tragedy like Douglas's death.
"We want to see a legal requirement on the people who run big estates to issue their workers with mobile phones and put in place a buddy system to raise the alarm in an emergency."
"Some of the evidence at the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) was desperately harrowing and added to the anguish of Douglas's death which has had a devastating effect on the family and our parents who are in their eighties.
"One of the hardest things to bear is the evidence that Douglas could well have survived his injuries if he had remained still and been able to call for help.
"But because he had never been given a mobile phone he made a heroic attempt to reach help which could only have made his injuries worse.
"And we have to live with the fact that nobody bothered to check if Douglas was alright, and it took them three days to even notice he was missing and start looking for him.
"I am appalled by the arrogance and indifference of Sir William Strang-Steel and his wife Sarah. People shouldn't be allowed to run big estates if they cannot look after their employees.
"Sir William had the nerve to sit in Douglas's house and tell us that he would do anything he could to help.
"But the Health and Safety Executive had to serve an order on him 51 days after Douglas died, because he still hadn't given another estate worker any means of communication.
"Lady Strang-Steel always put out a cup of coffee which Douglas drank mid-morning. But she did nothing when he failed to take it on the day he died, and she didn't even raise the alarm when it lay untouched the following day.
"It was only when the gamekeeper he was covering for returned from hospital and realised Douglas was missing that the alarm was raised.
"The Sheriff identified half a dozen things the Strang-Steels could have done to prevent Douglas's death, and we need to ensure that they and anyone who employs people in similar circumstances put them into effect.
"We have to make sure that what happened to Douglas does not happen to anyone else.
Solicitor Advocate Lindsey Houghton of Thompsons Solicitors who represented the family at the FAI said: "One of the key findings was that the role of lone workers must be risk assessed and that they must have some means of communication and there is a contact or 'buddy system' to raise the alarm."
"Risk assessments are already required by Health and Safety legislation but we need to find a way of ensuring employers are legally bound to provide lone workers in the countryside and other potentially hazardous situations with a mobile phone and a contact system.
"Most big organisations already have policies in place to ensure this happens.
"But if what happened at Philliphaugh is typical it just doesn't happen on big country estates.
"The Forestry Commission for instance will risk assess each situation. If it is a worker using dangerous equipment like a chain saw they will never go out on their own.
"If the task has a smaller risk, they will let someone know where they are going, when they will be back and they will certainly have a means of communication and calling for help if something goes wrong".
