NEWS Top Stories
n By Keith Hatch
Cider firm fined £1m after farm gate death
A grandfather of three was killed on his 65th birthday by a poorly installed gate at the cider producer where he worked.
Tommy Manns, from Dymock, Gloucestershire, was driving for H Weston and Sons Limited when he was killed by a security barrier in September 2020.
Tommy, who’d been a farm manager with the company since 2008, was driving a van out of the cider producers' site near Ledbury when the end of a security barrier pierced the vehicle’s windshield, fatally crushing him.
The HSE prosecuted the company resulting in them being fined £1.4m and ordered to pay £26,756.50 in costs at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court in November 2023.
The HSE investigation into the incident found the company had installed the barrier a month earlier and failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
They also failed to implement a safe system of work to ensure the barrier could be secured safely when open and closed.
H Weston and Sons Limited pleaded
guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
HSE inspector Sara Lumley said, “This is a sad and devastating case that is made all the more tragic as the incident took place on Tommy’s birthday.
“Horizontal barriers can be dangerous – but deaths are extremely preventable. The guidance for those operating barriers like this at car parks is clear and it’s vital to make sure the barriers are adequately secured at all times whether open or shut.”
Scarecrows say no
Dozens of scarecrows protested outside Parliament in late January, calling on the government to force the ‘Big Six’ supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl – to #GetFairAboutFarming ahead of a
6 uniteLANDWORKER Spring 2024
Commons debate later that day. The 49 scarecrows represented the 49 per cent of fruit and veg farmers who are likely to shut down in the next year according to research by veg box firm, Riverford.
Mark Thomas
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