Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Agriculture
HSE has taken the following successful prosecutions during the period 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2003. A key to the Act and Regulation abbreviations is at the bottom of this paper.
1. Wales: A contractor was prosecuted under COPR for applying pesticides for which he did not hold a certificate of competence. Fined £100.
2. South West: A fishing company were prosecuted under HSW following an accident which resulted in the death of a skipper and injuries to two members of the public. Lifting equipment on a trawler failed, causing approx 3-5 tonnes of fishing gear to drop onto quayside. The company did not have an adequate system for checking the lifting equipment on the trawler (including examination, inspection, maintenance, storage and/or use). Fined £20,000.
3. South West: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW following an accident to an employee who fell from the top of a silage clamp. The employee was lifted up onto the clamp on the frame of a fore-end loader. While moving one of the bales the clamp gave way and he fell to floor. No risk assessment had been produced and there was no safe system of work. Fined £5,000.
4. South West: A horticulture company were prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to an employee whose hand became trapped in a conveyor on a compost potting machine while trying to remove a broken tray. A fixed guard had been removed from the machine and the company failed to ensure it was maintained in an efficient working order. Fined £3,000
5. South West: Two farming partners were prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to an 11 years old child. A tractor with an attached binding was in operation without a suitable guard for the PTO shaft. The child fractured his arm when his coat sleeve got caught on the exposed revolving shaft. Fined total £1,000.
6. East and South East: A horticulture company were prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to a farm worker whose foot became trapped while cleaning the inside of a compost hopper which had not been switched off. The company had no safe system of working, an inadequate risk assessment and failed to demonstrate any management of health and safety. Fined £5,000.
7. East and South East: A farmer was prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to a young employee on a mushroom box filling line. The 17 years-old trapped his fingers in an unguarded chain and sprocket drive. The farmer was prosecuted for failing to prevent access to the conveyer and sprocket drive. Fined £670.
8. East and South East: A horticulture company and a Director were both prosecuted under HSWA and WHSW following an accident to an employee who was run over by a FLT. The company and Director failed to provide a safe system of work for controlling the movements of vehicle on site. Fined total £15,000.
9. East and South East: A machinery hire company were prosecuted under HSW after an 18 years-old employee of an arboriculture company had his arm drawn into and severed by a woodchipper. The safety bar was poorly positioned and the company should have withdrawn the machine and supplied a suitable replacement. The company were also prosecuted for supplying similar machines to other companies. Fined total £10,000.
10. East and South East: A farmer was prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to an employee who was struck by a tractor which rolled backwards while he was uncoupling a straw chopper. The tractor handbrake and the jack which supported the chopper were both broken and defective. Fined £5,500.
11. East and South East: A farmer was prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to an employee who fell from the rear of the moving vehicle. He was stood on an unguarded pulley at the rear of the vehicle. Fined £6,500.
12. East and South East: A horticulture company were prosecuted under HSW and MHSW following an accident to an employee. The company were performing some demolition work when a 200kg beam fell from a tower scaffold and landed on the employee's legs. Fined £15,000.
13. East and South East: A hunting company and Director were prosecuted under HSW following an accident to a young employee. The employee sustained serious head injuries when he fell from the rear of a moving vehicle. Fined total £7,000.
14. Midlands: A farming company was prosecuted under LOLER following an accident to a farm employee who was injured when he fell from an unsecured work platform - consisting of a potato box raised on the forks of a lift truck. The farmer was prosecuted for not using a safe system of work. Fined £1,500.
15. Midlands: A contractor was prosecuted under COPR for spraying pesticides in adverse weather conditions which led to the pesticide drifting onto a neighbours crop. He failed to confine the application to the intended target resulting in damage to the neighbouring crop. Fined £400.
16. Midlands: Two gangmasters and a contractor were prosecuted under HSW following a fatal accident to a student on a seasonal workers scheme. He was working in a trailer when the tractor contacted an overhead power line and was electrocuted when he tried to jump clear. There was no adequate supervision, monitoring or control by any of the parties involved. Fined total of £12,000.
17. Midlands: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW when an inspector witnessed a ten years-old child start, operate and drive a telescopic materials handler. The farmer had left the vehicle unattended with the key in the ignition and the cab unlocked. Fined £3,000.
18. Midlands: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW when an employee trapped his upper arm between sections of the mast on a lift truck while working on the hydraulics. The farmer failed to provide a safe system of work and had made no effort to ensure the safety of his employees either by, provision of training, instructions or assessment of tasks/ risks in connection with maintenance of equipment. Fined £1,000
19. Midlands: A farmer was prosecuted under MHSW and CHSW following an accident to an employee who fell three metres from a platform gantry in a grainstore during its dismantling. The farmer did not produce an adequate risk assessment and failed to provide protection from falling. Fined £5,000.
20. Midlands: A self-employed pesticide contractor was prosecuted under COPR for failing to notify neighbours of his intention to spray pesticides onto a potato crop. Fined £3,000.
21. Midlands: A self-employed pesticide contractor was prosecuted under COPR for spraying pesticides on land in adverse weather conditions, which led to spray drifting from the target onto neighbouring land causing damage to plants. Fined £1,500.
22. Midlands: Three partners in a farming company were prosecuted under PUWER and RIDDOR following an accident to a farm worker who was using a chainsaw. The partners had failed to ensure that the employee had been adequately trained for using a chainsaw, had failed to report the accident and had failed to ensure that the saw was maintained. Fined total £5,040
23. Midlands: An arboricultural contractor was prosecuted under HSW after a tree was felled in an uncontrolled manner and fell into a neighbouring garden. Fined £2,000.
24. Midlands: A farmer was prosecuted under MHSW after an employee fell three metres from a platform gantry in a grainstore while dismantling it. The farmer had not assessed the risks and failed to provide protection from a fall. Fined £5,000.
25. Yorkshire and North East: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW following an accident to an employee who fell eight metres into a barley bin whilst trying to retrieve a bucket. A risk assessment had not been carried out and there was no safe system for working at height. A chest harness was worn but was not suitable, the rope was not to the correct standard and no instructions or training had been given. The farmer had failed to protect the worker while working in a danger zone. Fined £5,000.
26. Yorkshire and North East: A poultry company were prosecuted under HSW following the fatal accident to a delivery driver who was killed whilst discharging chicken feed into a grain bin which subsequently collapsed onto him. The company failed to properly maintain the hopper and to ensure that it was safe for use. Fined £18,000.
27. Yorkshire and North East: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW following a fatal accident to a member of the public. The farmer had left a gate pole resting across a bridleway that was struck by a passing Landrover causing the pole to enter through the ventilation grill of the vehicle and impale the driver. Fined £2,000
28. Yorkshire and North East: A partner in a farming business was prosecuted under HSW following an accident to a 14 years old child who was entangled on a PTO with a poorly maintained guard. The child was helping the farmer shred beet for cattle feed when became caught on the PTO shaft. The case also raised issues concerning information, instruction and supervision of a young person who was 'helping out' on the farm. Fined £1,000.
29. Yorkshire and North East: A partner in a farming company was prosecuted under PUWER following an accident to a casual employee. While clearing a blockage in a potato lifting machine the employee became entangled on an unguarded PTO shaft. The guard had been damaged two weeks previously but had not been replaced. Fined £3,500.
30. Yorkshire and North East: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW after an employee was struck by a chainsaw being operated by another employee. Neither had been trained in the safe use of chainsaws or had been supplied with protective clothing. Fined £2,000.
31. North West: A self-employed farmer was prosecuted under HSW following an accident to a 13 years old child who became entangled on an unguarded PTO shaft. The boy was one of two who were milling grain and shovelling it into bags. Guilty, conditional discharge.
32. North West: A farmer was prosecuted under PUWER for allowing an employee to use a slurry tanker with an unguarded PTO shaft. The farmer had failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of PTO shaft on linkage between tanker and tractor. Fined £500.
33. North West: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW following a tractor overturn which was being driven by his 13 years-old son. The child was ejected from the tractor during the overturn (which did not have a door) and his legs were trapped between the cab frame and the ground. Fined £1,000.
34. North West: A poultry company were prosecuted under HSW following an accident to a contractor's employee who fell over two metres through a fragile roof of a poultry shed. The company failed to ensure that the contractors produced a risk assessment or followed a safe system of work. Fined £2,000.
35. North West: A farming company were prosecuted under HSW, NOISE and MHSW following an accident to a 15 years-old trapper who was hit in the eye with a shotgun pellet fired by a shooter on another trap. The company regularly employed children to help at a clay pigeon shoot but there was little supervision and no risk assessment was produced which would have identified that the children's hearing could be damaged. Fined £14,000.
36. Scotland: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW following an accident to a 14 years old child who suffered serious head injuries when struck by the forks of a materials handler that was being driven by the farmer's 15 years old son. They were connecting a trailer to the tractor in an unsafe manner and it appears the draw bar fell from the fork and the forks struck the child on the head. Fined £1,000.
37. Scotland: A farmer was prosecuted under HSW following for allowing
an employee to assist with work on the roof of a farm building without providing
adequate protection or safe systems of work. Fined £1,000.