Farm ordered to pay £61,000 after telehandler death

A farming partnership has been ordered to pay more than £60,000 after a worker was struck and killed by a telehandler.

Self-employed stockman Andrew Denning died following the incident on 17 October 2019 at a pig farm owned by CM Stone of The Yards, Woolavington Puriton, Somerset.

At Weston-super-Mare Magistrates’ Court this week the judge heard how Mr Denning had been helping muck out and check stock inside a large pig shed.

See also: Farm partnership fined £60,000 after worker’s death

He was working close to a telehandler, which was fitted with a bucket and scraping the muck from the floor using multiple short manoeuvres.

But Mr Denning was hit by the vehicle and killed as it reversed.

In the following Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation, inspectors found that CM Stone had failed to ensure a safe system of work.

Staff working within the shed were not adequately segregated from the machine so far as was reasonably practicable, the court was told.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £53,000 with a further sum of £8,000 in costs.

Preventable

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector William Powell said: “The system of work used at this farm was not safe.

“Simple measures to keep pedestrians and large farm vehicles properly separated could have prevented Mr Denning’s death.

”Being struck by a moving vehicle has been the biggest cause of workplace fatalities on farms for several years.

“Farmers should properly assess their workplace transport risks and separate people and vehicles where reasonably practicable.

“HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”