Health and Safety Audits follow Worksop Death
A tractor overturned killing an employee of a Worksop company. Christopher Fox was 60 at the time of his death. He died instantly when the tractor fell on top of him and crushed him. The tractor was being used for a tree felling operation. The tractor was meant to control the direction of the falling tree, but instead it fell towards the tractor overturning it and crushing the worker. The accident happened in 2009 at Hodsock Forest Farm. He was employed by GMT Foljambe. The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine why the tractor was being used and whether there was a breach in laws.
It was found that the farm did not provide adequate health and safety training with regards to the tractor in use. The executive of the company pled guilty to the regulations in court. He and the company have been fined £10,000 with costs of £20,000 as an additional fee. Felling a tree is always a risky situation. This is why it needs to be carried out by a properly trained individual. It should not be conducted by a person without proper training on the equipment. The person doing the felling also needs to be trained on what tools are appropriate. It is for this very reason that the company was fined. The worker did not have the proper training to run the tractor or to use it to fell a tree. It would have been better to use an appropriate tool such as a chainsaw.
