Offences and penalties report - Graham Walton

The summary

This was an incident investigated by the Health and Safety Executive in April 2004. Graham Walton, a long term casual worker, fell about 2.5 metres from a potato box balanced on the forks of a fork lift truck, breaking his leg, pelvis and ankle. The incident happened in the potato store on a farm in North Yorkshire where Mr. Walton was lifted up in the potato box to unhook the tarpaulin covering the store entrance. The box toppled sideways and he fell to the stone floor. A safety cage should have been used at this height and an instruction had been issued to do so. The staff did not consider it necessary for this brief task.

The personal cost

Graham Walton, aged 50 years, became an agricultural worker on leaving school. His father had been a farmer and he loved the outdoor, physical work. Until his accident Mr Walton, who lived in Driffield, had been employed as a casual worker for three years working with a potato merchant. “Although I was a casual worker I was employed for about ten months of each year and we were always extremely busy. I liked the job. I was used to working long hours and anything outdoors in agriculture really suited me. I went off to work as usual that morning. We made a start at 7.30 a.m. and the accident happened only five minutes later. The last thing I remembered was the potato box I was standing in on the fork lift began to wobble. When I came to I was lying on the floor. It was very cold and I felt numb.”

Because of complications arising from his injuries, Mr Walton was in hospital in Scarborough for nearly three months. On his return home he only made slow progress in regaining his health. Any effort left him breathless and perspiring. “Eventually I was referred back to the hospital for further tests. They revealed that I had suffered embolisms due the fact that I had been unable to move for so long, which had damaged my lungs. I had to accept the fact that I was finished and would never work again. I had always enjoyed work, the outdoor life and the company of my workmates. That was all gone and I became very depressed. I am making the best of it and potter about at home doing what I can. I can only move about for about ten minutes at a time and then have to rest. My partner, Kathleen, suffers severe arthritis and osteoporosis so we are both very limited in what we can do. I think back with regret. We had a safety cage at work but were always so rushed at work that it was the norm to ignore it. It is too late for me now but my advice to anyone working would be to think before you act and always use the safety equipment however pushed you are for time.”

The penalty

The company operating the potato farm was prosecuted under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. At the Magistrates’ Court, the company was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,358.