A farming partnership in Montrose has been prosecuted and fined after two of its workers sustained severe injuries at the hands of a faulty telescopic handler.

Nether Dysart Farms had employed Mr. David Alson Junior, aged 19, and Mr. Ian Murray, aged 54, when the injuries were sustained on the 12th of May 2012.

It was heard at the Arbroath Sheriff Court that the workers who were employed by the limited liability partnership were repairing a fence which separated the East Coast railway line and the cliffs from the fields of the farm.

At the time, Mr. Murray was inspecting the fence to see which areas needed repair work. He had stopped at the corner of the field whilst Mr. Alston drove a telehandler, which had the tools needed for the repairs inside of it.

But when he opened the door of his telehandler the machine continued to move forward. He shouted to Mr. Murray, who was standing in an area which ran parallel to a bank which led to the edges of the cliffs, that he couldn’t steer the vehicle or put it into neutral properly.

The injuries were sustained when Mr. Alston attempted to escape the vehicle by jumping out of the driver’s door, but was instead hit by the back wheel and a nearby fence post. Mr. Murray also sustained injuries as he ran to help but was hit by the vehicle and had the left side of his body ran over by the rear wheel.

The telehandler continued to move and ended up breaking down the fence and rolling down the bank. The vehicle came to a stop approximately 29 metres from the fence. Help was called by Mr. Alston when he phoned his father from where he lay.

Mr. Alston suffered from a cracked pelvis, which meant that he had to stay in hospital for two days. Mr. Murray, on the other hand, sustained a dislocated right shoulder, a punctured lung, a fractured pelvis, a urethra which was severed, a fractured solar bone and ribs, as well as a damaged shoulder blade. Additional scarring was sustained to his back, abdomen, and hip.

Mr. Murray was forced into major surgery to repair his urethra and ease his pelvic injuries. He now has difficulties walking and can now only attend to light duties at his place of work on the farm due to the fact he tires easily.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation, which was assisted by the Tayside Police Crash Investigation Unit, was carried out following the incident. The findings of the investigation found that the parking brake had either been accidentally released or had been unable to stop the vehicle on the slope.

Furthermore, it was found that Mr. Alston had only experienced informal training in how to use the vehicle by his father and that Nether Dysart Farms had never approached him with any formal training. Since Mr. Alston was only 17 when the incident occurred, Nether Dysart Farms had broken the approved codes of practice since those under 18 have to undergo formal training to drive this sort of vehicle. And the codes of practice also state that young people are forbidden from driving tractors on steep slopes.

The Montrose-based Nether Dysart Farms, was fined £8,000 by the Arbroath Sheriff Court after it admitted breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974.

Gillian McLean, a HSE Inspector, commented following the hearing that the sentence was handed down primarily because Mr. Alston was not given formal training and shouldn’t have been driving the tractor.

33 year old Sandy Haining was driving his quad-bike from the forecourt of the Brigbrae garage in Bellshill, Lanarkshire where he was employed. Reports indicate that he mistakenly accelerated the machine forward into a wall, instead of reversing.

He sustained injuries from which he subsequently died in Wishaw General Hospital.

A 43-year old woman from Shropshire broke two bones in her left ankle and the heel bone of her right ankle, in a fall on 26 July 2011. This resulted in her spending eight days in hospital, where she underwent an operation having two plates put in her left ankle for stabilising the joint. She has undergone another operation on the foot, and since suffers poor mobility. She has not been able to return to work at Staveley’s Eggs Ltd, where she was employed packing eggs, for the past six years.

The Shropshire egg supplier has been fined for the worker’s fall through the hole in the floor of a poultry barn, without any safeguards in place as protection.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told the Magistrates Court in Shrewsbury that the barn was undergoing building work, and the floorboards had been removed from behind a door that the worker used regularly. There had been no warning signs erected, nor had anyone informed her of the repair work. When the woman opened the door, she fell more than two metres, landing on a concrete floor and damaging her ankles.

Accordingly, the HSE prosecuted Staveley’s Eggs Ltd of The Poplars, Warrant Road, Stoke-on-Tern, Market Drayton, who pleaded guilty to breaching regulations. The fine was £25,000 and they were further ordered to pay costs of £2,386.

]]> http://www.injuryclaims.co.uk/female-worker-falls-in-hole-of-barn-floor/feed/ 0 http://www.injuryclaims.co.uk/schoolgirl-sues-mother-for-drink-and-drive-crash/ http://www.injuryclaims.co.uk/schoolgirl-sues-mother-for-drink-and-drive-crash/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 19:21:13 +0000 Denise http://www.injuryclaims.co.uk/?p=1910 Compensation sought from family member

Ten year old Cansu Ozkan is claiming damages, reportedly for £100,000 from her mother Ceyda Ozkan. It relates to her sustaining serious injuries as the result of a car crash on 1 January, 2009. The car, driven by her mother, crashed into a tree.

Following investigations into the incident, in February 2010, Ceyda Ozkan was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and jailed for four years.

During the original hearing in the Woolwich Crown Court, witnesses alleged they observed Ceyda Ozkan, driving at about 60 or 70 miles per hour, in a 30 mph zone, just before the impact.

Stepsister of Cansu, Filiz Ozkan, aged 21 and pregnant at the time of the accident, was killed in the crash. Two other adults and two children were also seriously injured in the crash, but it was stated that no passenger was wearing a seat belt.

According to the figures revealed in a recent survey, 75% of drivers wouldn’t admit to bumping into a car belonging to a neighbour or friend.

North West drivers scored highest for honesty with only 1 in 10 keeping mum about an accident on the street. Londoners were found to be the most dishonest with almost 25% not telling anybody about a crash.

2000 drivers took part in the Cooperative Motor Group survey which revealed that less than a quarter of drivers who had been involved in a bump would even tell a friend, whilst only a few more would tell a neighbour. Only 1 in 8 would tell a stranger if they had hit their vehicle accidently.

Workplace car parks are also a bed of lies, where only about 33% of drivers would let their boss or colleagues know if they crashed into their car.

On the positive side, it appears that honesty amongst drivers does seem to improve with age, Almost three-quarters of motorists in the 55+ age group claim that they would actively seek out the vehicles owner, whoever they were, compared to about 40% of drivers between the ages of 18 and 24.

There wasn’t a great deal of difference between women and men when it came to honesty; both genders say that 16% wouldn’t tell anybody, although 56% of women said that they would look for the owner compared to only 46% of men.

Delivery and HGV drivers were found to be the most honest motorists, with less than 7% of drivers not telling anyone if they were involved in an incident in the street. Travel agents, the unemployed, engineers and construction workers weren’t too far behind.

The least honest drivers are employed in telecommunications, where precisely 33% of employees wouldn’t tell anybody about bumping a parked-car. Other noteworthy industries include teachers, health workers and lawyers.

The top five areas for ‘most honest’ drivers:

1. North West: 10.82%

2. Yorkshire & the Humber: 12.73%

3. East Midlands: 12.78%

4. South East: 13.19%

5. Northern Ireland: 15.15%

Mr Robinson, a worker employed by WJ Watkins and Son Ltd, fell about 1.5 metres to the ground from a forklift.
A Court was told that various workers developed their own system of operation. One in particular, involved being lifted by a forklift and climbing onto suspended, large bags of recycled material. They then proceeded to trample on them, to create more space, and then returned to the forklift.

It was stated that the company did not provide an alternative method for the workmen to reach the bags of recycled material in a way
that was controlled and safe.

The company, WJ Watkins and Son Ltd, of Highfield, Holsworthy Beacon, entered a plea of guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for allowing dangerous working practices. The Court imposed a fine of £6,000 and the company was also ordered to pay costs of £1,226.

Duncan Frere, 37, of Wilkinson Drive Ipswich, a self-employed gas engineer, has been fined for unregistered work of installation and connection of gas appliances, carried out by him at the Super Kebab House in Ipswich during May and June 2010. He has been further fined for conducting safety checks at the Kishmish Indian Takeaway restaurant on 14 March 2011.

The Ipswich Magistrates Court heard that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and found that Mr Frere was neither trained nor registered, for competent working with gas appliances, at commercial catering premises. He was only trained for competency on domestic gas appliances.

Mr Frere admitted that he breached regulations of the HSE and fined £4,000 with costs of £2,500 and a further victim surcharge of £15.

A 25-year old employee lost part of his right hand index and middle fingers on contact with a heavy-duty blade on 26 August 2010.

Bumble Hole Foods Ltd, of Fockbury, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, have been fined for the accident, occurring while a worker cleaned a production line drain.

Investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the blade was inadequately controlled and that the employees had access to moving parts while the blade ran.

Redditch Magistrate’s Court heard that Bumble Hole Foods had had a similar incident in 2008 and that employee training is carried out by employees, who are unqualified to teach others.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching regulations, and fined £13,000 and the costs of £6,303.

On 30 April, the Guildford Magistrates Court heard that between 20 April and 1 May 2011, a self employed builder, Stuart Pearson, of Verwood in Dorset, proceeded to demolish a building in Woking, Surrey, without first conducting an asbestos survey. His prosecution followed an investigation conducted by the authorities.

Mr. Pearson had been provided with a recent Asbestos Management Survey that had been commissioned on behalf of the previous owner. It related to one area of the house and followed the actions of a plumber refusing to repair a boiler, because of the presence of an asbestos presence.

It was highlighted in the survey, that there existed 12 metres of asbestos that was in a poor condition and two or three other areas with a high risk classification. A report stated that the asbestos was in a very poor condition, with debris around the area of the boiler and on the floor. There was also a directive that the room should not be accessed until it was environmentally cleaned and all materials containing asbestos had been removed by a licensed asbestos contractor.

Mr Pearson, of Badger Way, Verwood, Dorset, entered a plea of guilty to a breach of Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. A fine was imposed of £5,000 and he was ordered to costs amounting to £7,500.

Cambridge Magistrates Court heard how Derek Offord, aged 45 from Sawston, whilst checking new cables on a recently maintained machine, received an electric shock from which he sustained injuries, causing him to be hospitalised. Mr. Offord was a machine operator, employed by Tecvac Limited, a coating and Treatment Company at their plant in the Buckingway Business Park

As a result of the accident, investigations were conducted by the authorities into its cause, which resulted in the prosecution of the employers of the injured party.

Tecvac Limited, with a registered address at Lodge Bank Works, Lord Street, Bury, Lancashire, admitted liability in breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. The company was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £5,382.70 in costs.