Prosecutions

On 9 December 2009, a mill operative employed by the company was preparing animal feed. This task involved him climbing into an excavator bucket to shake the contents of a tote bag to allow an even spread of it into the excavator bucket. However, he lost his balance and fell approximately five feet onto the concrete floor below. He received a cut to his head which needed to be stapled, and lost consciousness for a period of about five minutes. He was kept in hospital overnight for observation.

The HSE investigation found that there was no safe system of work in place for preparing the specialist mix. The method which had been used by Mr Mortimer was unsafe because it involved employees working unnecessarily at height with no control measures to prevent them from falling. The investigation also revealed that the company had not carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks involved because this was a task that was required only occasionally.

At Stonehaven Sherrif Court the company was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc 1974 Act.

After the hearing, a HSE Inspector commented:

"What happened to the employee was entirely preventable and could have easily resulted in him being killed.

"The company already had a grain conveyor on site which would have allowed the employee to safely decant the maize from the ground, avoiding any need to work at height.

"There is no excuse for the company not to have carried out a straightforward risk assessment, nor to have agreed procedures for how this work was to be carried out safely."