Stonehaven grain company fined after worker's fall

Date:

14 April 2011

Release No:

SCO/033/11

A Stonehaven animal grain company has been fined after one of its workers fell from an excavator bucket onto a concrete floor, sustaining head injuries.

On 9 December 2009, Douglas Mortimer, a mill operative employed by East Coast Viners Grain LLP, was preparing animal feed. This task involved him climbing into an excavator bucket to shake the contents of a tote bag to allow an even spread of it into the excavator bucket. However, he lost his balance and fell approximately five feet onto the concrete floor below. He received a cut to his head which needed to be stapled, and lost consciousness for a period of about five minutes. He was kept in hospital overnight for observation.

The HSE investigation found that there was no safe system of work in place for preparing the specialist mix. The method which had been used by Mr Mortimer was unsafe because it involved employees working unnecessarily at height with no control measures to prevent them from falling. The investigation also revealed that the company had not carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks involved because this was a task that was required only occasionally.

At Stonehaven Sherrif Court today (13 April) East Coast Viners Grain LLP, Broadwood, Drumlithie, Stonehaven was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc 1974 Act.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Colin Leaver, said:

"What happened to Mr Mortimer was entirely preventable and could have easily resulted in him being killed.

"East Coast Viners already had a grain conveyor on site which would have allowed Mr Mortimer to safely decant the maize from the ground, avoiding any need to work at height.

"There is no excuse for the company not to have carried out a straightforward risk assessment, nor to have agreed procedures for how this work was to be carried out safely."

The risks of working at height are well known, and free guidance on working safety at height is available at www.hse.gov.uk/falls

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. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
2. In Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sole responsibility for the raising of criminal proceedings for breaches of health and safety legislation.
3. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

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