Merseyside motorcyclist's life-threatening injuries prompt farm safety warning

Date:

09 October 2009

Release No:

HSE/NW/013Wilkinson/09

Farmers in Merseyside are being urged to make sure that the public are not put at risk by their work, after a St Helens motorcyclist suffered life-threatening injuries.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Peter Wilkinson from Suttons Farm near Formby in relation to an incident when the arms of a crop-spraying trailer, attached to a tractor, collided with a motorbike passing the farm.

Peter Wilkinson was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000 at North Sefton Magistrates' Court in Southport on 9 October 2009.

The court heard that Allan Smith was travelling along the B5195 Broad Lane in Great Altcar on 13 July 2008 when the incident happened. Mr Wilkinson was spraying crops in a field next to the road when he turned his tractor, without raising the trailer's boom arms.

As a result, one of the arms crossed the field's boundary and struck the passing motorbike. Allan Smith's left arm was severely injured during the incident and he has been unable to return to work or ride a motorbike since. His passenger, Andrew Friar, escaped with less serious injuries but still required stitches to his knee.

Peter Wilkinson pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to make sure the public was not put at risk while he carried out his work.

HSE Inspector Phil Redman said: "This was a serious incident that could have easily been prevented. Allan Smith clearly wouldn't have expected the arms of the sprayer to swing over the road when he rode along it, and both he and his passenger were injured as a result. Mr Smith's injuries were particularly severe and he will never fully recover.

"Peter Wilkinson should have made sure the arms of the sprayer were lifted before he turned the tractor so that it stayed within the field. By failing to do so, he put the lives of people passing by at risk.

"Members of the public often use roads or footpaths on or near to farms, and it's important they can do so safely. It's vital that farmers remember that other people may be nearby when they carry out their work, so that lives are not put at risk in the future."

HSE is currently running a national campaign urging farmers to take care during the harvest season. Over the past five years, 82 workers in the UK have suffered fatal injuries between July and October, with deaths during these four months accounting for almost half of all deaths in agriculture since 2004/05.

Farm work is one of the UK's most dangerous ways to make a living, with six deaths and 157 serious injuries in the North West in 2007/8. More information on farm safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture.

Notes to editors

1. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

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Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News and PR North West.