One employee was seriously injured in a quad bike accident when it overturned as he attempted to use the vehicle to round up sheep at a Derbyshire farm, work accident claim experts recently reported.
The farm worker, a forty two year old man from Church Broughton whose name has been withheld from members of the public out of deference to his request for privacy, had been working at a Barton Blount farm for JD and RL Spaton at the time of the incident. According to legal documents read into the record at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court, the man sustained several severe injuries when the all terrain vehicle overturned as it traveled down a farm track, including a broken jaw and a stomach wound that also damaged his liver, though the most severe injury he sustained in the accident – which required him being brought by air ambulance to hospital for treatment in the intensive care ward – was the loss of his right eye.
The Health and Safety Executive was called in to investigate the incident, revealing that both the steering and the brakes of the ATV were defective. The condition of the quad bike in general was found to have been due to poor maintenance, HSE investigators also discovered, leading to a representative of JD and RL Spalton, David Spalton, being called before the court in a hearing at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Spalton admitted being in breach of health and safety regulations after being prosecuted by the HSE. The farm representative was given a fine of £2,500 while also being told to pay additional court costs of £2,000.
The serious injuries sustained by the farm worker could have been completely avoided if he had been provided with suitable protective equipment and the quad bike had simply been maintained properly, the HSE inspector that led the investigation commented after the court hearing.