Farm prosecuted after employee run over by tractor

Date:

28 February 2013

Release No:

HSE/M/60/13

A Lincolnshire farming company has been fined after an employee suffered multiple injuries when he was run over by a poorly-maintained tractor.

Fifty-one year-old Nigel Mould was working for Wheathills Farms Limited at The Drier, Little Dalby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, when the incident happened on 1 August 2011.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (28 February) told Leicester Magistrates' Court that the tractor had had a faulty starter motor for at least two months, during which time staff were starting the engine by using a screwdriver or spanner to short the connection.

Mr Mould was standing outside the cab, between the front and back wheels, to start the tractor but it had been left in gear so as soon as it started it moved forward, running him over.

The tractor then carried on across the yard until a colleague was able to run up to it and pull an emergency brake.

Mr Mould, of Little Dalby, punctured a lung, suffered a severe crush injury to his pelvis and damage to his bladder. He also fractured three of his ribs, broke his ankle and his right thumb. The broken ankle was not diagnosed until six weeks after the incident.

Mr Mould was wheelchair and bed-bound for 12 weeks but a month later it was discovered the pins put in his pelvis had snapped and he was then wheelchair bound for another 12 weeks.

Although he later returned to work for the company he has since left. Mr Mould is still in pain and has been advised he will probably suffer from arthritis at some point in his life as a result of his injuries.

Wheathill Farms Limited, of Thurlby, near Bourne, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 for failing to maintain the tractor. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,529.

After the hearing HSE inspector Berian Price said:

"This was an easily avoidable incident. Although the tractor was not subject to an MOT there was still a duty on Wheathill Farms Ltd to make sure it was kept in good repair and in efficient working order.

"It wasn't a big or expensive job to replace the starter motor yet employees were put at risk, and a worker was very seriously injured because no-one from the company saw fit to remedy the problem."

Further information on working safely with tractors and other farm vehicles can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/transport.htm

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce 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. Regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair."

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