A Cheshire farm owner has been fined after a man fell to his death from a forklift truck while attempting to repair the roof of a packing shed at his premises in Tarporley.
The Owner and his company were fined a combined £16,000 after 64-year-old was killed at a farm on 1 February 2021.
Earlier this year, the owner and the company were found guilty of breaching health and safety legislation, following a six-week trial at Chester Crown Court. The jury cleared 78-year-old Thornhill on a charge of gross negligence manslaughter. They returned to the same court on 11 October 2024, to be sentenced.
During the trial, the court was told that on 29 January 2021, 64-year-old, who worked as a roofer, had been asked to make repairs to a roof panel and fix a blocked gutter on the same building. However, as he was walking across the roof, he damaged a second roof panel, so a replacement was purchased to carry out an additional repair.
He returned with his son three days later to complete the work and asked to be raised up to the roof to complete the work. The owner arrived with a forklift truck that had a potato box balanced on its forks. The 65-year-old was lifted inside the potato box to a height of around 16 feet, while his son, who was on the roof, attempted to reposition the panel from above. As the 65-year-old moved to one side of the potato box, it caused it to overbalance, and he fell to the floor sustaining serious head injuries.
Although paramedics were called, they were unable to resuscitate him, and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The HSE Inspector said after the hearing: “This was a tragic incident that could so easily have been avoided.
“The forklift truck and potato box were the wrong pieces of equipment for the job and never a suitable platform for working at height. The work should instead have been carried out using a tower scaffold, scissor lift or a cherry picker.
“In bringing the forklift truck and potato box and using it to lift the 65-year-old at height, the company was in control of the work but had failed to implement proper planning and safe execution of it.
“All companies have a legal duty to ensure the safety of workers they employ or who carry out work for them. If that had happened in this case, then the 65-year-old’s life wouldn’t have been lost.”
A joint investigation by Cheshire Constabulary and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that on the day of the accident, there was no safe system of work implemented for working at height and unsuitable work equipment was used. The potato box did not have the required safety features for a non-integrated work platform and had not been secured in a way to prevent it overbalancing. Additionally, the forklift truck had not been subjected to a thorough examination at the required frequency, was unsuitable for lifting people and the owner was not formally trained in operating the forklift truck. Enforcement action was taken, and a prohibition notice served on the company, prohibiting further work until a safe system was devised.
The company owner was cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, by virtue of 37(1) of the Act and ordered to pay costs of £4,000.
The company was also found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
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Source: HSE