HSE fines poultry farm following work accident
Health & Safety update 15/11/2011
A Shropshire-based poultry farm has been prosecuted due to a
serious workplace accident.
A 36-year-old male agency worker was employed on a temporary
basis at Llynclys Farm, which has a site in the grounds of Stoke
Heath Farm in Market Drayton, when the incident occurred in July
2009.
The unnamed man was walking across a temporary platform that had
been built out of stacked cages as he attempted to move hens out of
the poultry house.
He tripped on the platform and fell three metres to the ground,
suffering a collapsed lung and fracturing his pelvis.
Following the accident, a thorough investigation was carried out
by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which found that, whilst
the farm had identified the risk of falls, it had not fitted any
edge protection to the platform to prevent it from happening.
Llynclys Farm pleaded guilty to failing to protect the health
and safety of its workers and was fined £6,000 plus £6,276 costs at
Shrewsbury Magistrates' Court.
Janice Dale, HSE inspector, told Insider Media, “Falling from
height remains the most common cause of workplace deaths and those
who survive are often seriously injured, as in this avoidable
incident.
“Llynclys Farm had identified the potential for workers to fall
from the platform but failed to act on its own risk assessment.
This dangerous system of work had been in place for around five
years before the incident,” Ms Dale added.
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