Horticulture company fined after worker dies in Annan

SCO/162/09 - 22 September 2009

A horticulture company has been fined £23,300 for failing to ensure proper health and safety standards were in place, following the death of an agency worker at its site in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway.

Colin Neil McCourt, aged 55, from Annan, died at Nutberry Moss Works, Eastriggs, Annan on 31 January 2008 when a tip bucket he was welding moved while he was working on it, crushing him to death.

At Dumfries Sheriff Court today, Humax Horticulture Ltd of Godalming, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Inspector Jean Edgar is now warning companies about the need to ensure agency workers are provided with adequate information and instruction to enable them to do their work safely.

Jean Edgar said:

"Workplace risks need to be managed by employers, irrespective of how wages are paid and who pays them. Employers who take on agency staff to plug a temporary gap in their workforce should not provide any lesser standard of health and safety protection for these people than they would for their own employees.

"Incidents can happen when inadequate information and instruction is provided to such workers. It may result in a failure to take the correct action to control risks relating to the work in hand, as shown by this tragic death."

Notes to editors

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 reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety.

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