A farm in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after a farm worker fell under the wheels of a vehicle and was crushed to death during an elderflower harvest.

In June 2007, Anthony Cripps, 57, from Chipping Norton was working for Daylesford Organic Farms Limited, situated at Daylesford Hill Farm, near Moreton-in-the-Marsh in Gloucestershire. The company is registered in Monrovia, Liberia, however.

Mr Cripps was employed as a market gardener and had been collecting elderflowers that grew on the site. He and a colleague were being carried in the bucket of an agricultural telehandler, which had also had been used as a work platform earlier in the day. As the vehicle travelled across a field, Mr Cripps fell backwards out of the bucket and under the offside wheels of the telehandler. He was fatally crushed and died at the scene.

On Friday (11/12/09) at Gloucester Crown Court, Daylesford Organic Farms Limited pleaded guilty to breaches under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £65,000, with costs of £27,500.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Caroline Bird said:

‘This tragic incident highlights the dangers of lifting and carrying people in the buckets of telehandlers. However short the distance or convenient the use, the buckets of telescopic handlers should never be used as a means of travel, or as a work platform. 

‘Only properly constructed and compatible working platforms meet health and safety standards,’ said Ms Bird.

‘Sadly, a relaxed safety culture at this particular farm had meant that the practice of using telehandler buckets as work platforms had become an acceptable practice despite the obvious risks.

‘Consequently, the use of the bucket for collecting elderflowers was not exceptional – but tragically for Anthony Cripps, it proved fatal,’ she added.

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