Carlisle firm fined over death at tractor pulling contest

Date:

6 June 2011

Release No:

HSE/NW/14AWBlake

An engineering firm has been sentenced following the death of a Dutch father-of-three in a high-speed crash at a tractor pulling competition in Lancashire.

Jan van Alphen was competing in the Euro Challenge Cup in Great Eccleston when his tractor was crushed. A 12 tonne box of weights, attached to the trailer he was pulling, hit the back of his tractor on Sunday 26 August 2007.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Carlisle-based AW Blake Ltd, which owned and maintained both the trailer and weight box, following an investigation into the death.

Preston Crown Court heard the 58-year-old had been pulling the specially designed trailer at approximately 60 miles an hour when the control mechanism failed. The weight box on the back on the trailer crashed through safety buffers and into Mr van Alphen's tractor as he tried to slow down.

It took fire and ambulance services an hour to free him from the wreckage before he could be airlifted to hospital, where he died from severe crush injuries.

Jan van Alphen on his tractor

Mr van Alphen, who had been involved in the tractor pulling motorsport since its introduction in the Netherlands in 1979, had won dozens of national and European championship titles. He was married with three children.

The HSE investigation found engineers had attempted to repair a fault in the trailer's control mechanism on three separate occasions during the previous day. The mechanism should have caused the weight box to move up the trailer rails slowly until it reached the buffers.

Despite the recurrent fault, the trailer was still put back into use on Sunday at the Great Eccleston Showground.

The investigation also concluded the trailer would not have met the rules of the European Tractor Pulling Committee or the British Tractor Pulling Association. Tests showed that the emergency brakes, although fitted, could not stop the weight box quickly enough.

AW Blake Ltd, of Ivegill near Carlisle, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by putting lives at risk. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £15,000 in prosecution costs.

The remains of Mr van Alphen's tractor following the crash

Liz Evans, the investigating inspector at HSE, said:

"Mr van Alphen was an experienced tractor-pulling competitor but he lost his life because AW Blake Ltd didn't do enough to look after his safety. It was given three warnings the previous day that the control mechanism wasn't working properly, but did not take the trailer out of use at the event.

"The company also failed to follow the guidelines set down by the governing body for tractor-pulling. The motorsport is a potentially high-risk activity and so it's vital the rules are followed to the letter.

"It's tragic the excellent health and safety record of tractor pulling events has been tarnished by the failings of one company. I hope lessons will be learnt from this so that both the public and drivers can continue to enjoy tractor pulling events safely in the future."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. 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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