Farming partnership fined after two workers severely injured

A Montrose farming partnership has been fined after two agricultural workers were severely injured when a telescopic handler went out of control, fell down a steep bank and came to rest at the top of a cliff. David Alston Junior, 19, and Ian Murray, 54, were working for Nether Dysart Farms, a limited liability partnership, when the incident occurred on 12 May 2010. Arbroath Sheriff Court heard that Mr Alston and Mr Murray were carrying out repairs to a fence in a field between the East Coast railway line and cliffs overlooking Lunan Bay and the North Sea. Equipment needed to carry out the fencing work was loaded into the bucket of a telehandler which Mr Alston drove, following Mr Murray as he walked along the fence inspecting it to see where repairs were needed. Mr Murray stopped to examine a section of fence in a corner of the field that ran parallel to a steep bank leading down to the cliff edge. Mr Alston stopped the telehandler on a bank a a short distance away. However, as he went to open the door the telehandler began to move. He shouted to Mr Murray that he was unable to stop the vehicle before attempting to restart it and steer it to safety, but he was unable to put it into neutral. Mr Murray ran to help as the vehicle continued to move down the bank. At the same time Mr Alston jumped from the driver's door but was caught between the back wheel of the vehicle and a fencepost. Mr Murray was also struck and knocked under the rear wheel of the vehicle, which ran over the left side of his body. The telehandler went through the fence and rolled down the steep bank, shedding its load from the bucket, and came to a halt lying on its nearside about 29 metres from the fence, at the top of the cliff. Mr Alston was able to use his mobile telephone to call his father, a partner at Nether Dysart Farms, for help. He suffered a cracked pelvis and was hospitalised for two days. Mr Murray suffered a fractured pelvis, dislocated right shoulder, fractured ribs and solar bone, a punctured lung, damaged shoulder blade and a severed urethra. He had to undergo major surgery on his pelvic injuries and to repair his urethra. He still finds walking difficult and tires easily and although he has returned to work he is still mainly carrying out light duties. He has also been left with scarring to his hip, back and abdomen. Following the incident, an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and officers from Tayside Police Crash Investigation Unit found that either the parking brake had been inadvertently released or had failed to hold the vehicle on the slope. The HSE investigation also revealed that Nether Dysart Farms had never provided any formal training in tractor driver for Mr Alston, though he had been informally taught by his father from a young age. Approved codes of practice make it clear that young people under 18 should not be permitted to drive tractors or self-propelled vehicles unless they had been on a formal training course. Mr Alston was only 17 at the time of the incident. The court also heard that Mr Alston should not have been driving the telehandler in this particular field at all, as Approved Code of Practice states young people should not be allowed to drive a tractor unless the ground is free of steep slopes. At Arbroath Sheriff Court today, Nether Dysart Farms, of Lunan, Montrose, was fined £8,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. After sentencing, HSE inspector Gillian McLean said: "Given Mr Alston's age and his lack of formal training, he should never have been allowed to drive the telehandler. Had the appropriate guidance been followed this incident could have been avoided. "Instead, not only did Mr Alston suffer injuries himself, but Mr Murray sustained severe injuries which required multiple operations and have had lasting implications. "There was a clear potential for this to have been a fatal incident, all because the employer failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place by not following the Approved Codes of Practice."