Cotswold farm company fined £65,000 after crush death

Date:

11 December 2009

An organic farm has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the death of one of its employees.

Daylesford Organic Farms Limited is based at Daylesford Hill Farm near Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire but registered in Mondovia, Liberia. The company was charged with health and safety breaches following the death of employee Anthony Cripps, 57-years-old from Chipping Norton, Gloucestershire, on 5 June 2007. Mr Cripps was riding in the bucket of a telehandler, taking part in an elderflower harvest, when he fell and was crushed to death by the wheels.

The court heard the company pleaded guilty to breaches under Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work (HSWA) etc. Act 1974. Daylesford Organic Foods Limited was fined £65,000 for the Section 2 charge and ordered to pay costs of £27,500 at Gloucester Crown Court today (11 December 2009).

Mr Cripps was employed as a market gardener by the company and was involved in the collection of elderflowers from hedgerows growing around the farm. He and a colleague were being carried in the bucket of an agricultural telehandler that also had been used as their work platform earlier in the day. As they travelled across the field, Mr Cripps fell backwards, out of the bucket, and fell under the offside wheels of the telehandler. He was fatally crushed and died at the scene.

Speaking after the hearing, HSEP Inspector, Caroline Bird, said:

"This tragic incident highlights the dangers of lifting and carrying people in the buckets of telehandlers. However short the distance or convenient the use, the buckets of telescopic handlers should never be used as a means of travel, or as a work platform. Only properly constructed and compatible working platforms meet health and safety standards.

"Sadly, a relaxed safety culture at this particular farm had meant that the practice of using telehandler buckets as work platforms had become an acceptable practice despite the obvious risks. Consequently, the use of the bucket for collecting elderflower was not exceptional, but tragically for Anthony Cripps, it proved fatal."

Notes to editors

1. Daylesford Organic Foods Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, in that: 'it failed to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the safety at work of their employees, including Anthony Cripps (deceased) and Michael Turner in that it:
   • caused or permitted the bucket of a JCB Loadall to be used as a means of transport and for access to and a working platform for work at height.
   • caused or permitted the JCB Loadall to be driven by and/or used by persons who had not been properly trained or instructed in its correct use
   • failed to ensure that the work at height was carried out using suitable safe plant.
   • failed to provide suitable instruction, training and supervision as to safe methods of working at height'
2. Further guidance and advice on health and safety issues relating to working at height in agriculture can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/falls.htm
3. The court also ordered Daylesford Organic Foods Ltd to pay a separate £15 victim surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR South West