submitted
by Joe Bailey
THE partners running a Suffolk farm have been sentenced after a haulage contractor was killed by an overhead power line strike. Basildon Magistrates’ Court heard how on 30 August 2016, haulage driver Christopher Wilson, 36, was killed when his tipping trailer was raised and made contact with overhead power lines that ran across part of the yard hard standing at the Airfield Grain store in Parham. The site was managed by Nicholas and Roger Watts, partners in FS Watts & Sons.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that FS Watts and Sons had failed to take suitable precautions for work near to the overhead electric power lines, despite recommendations given to them previously by NFU Mutual Risk Management Services (NFU RMS). Nicholas Watts and Roger Watts each pleaded guilty to criminal breaches of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and were each fined £9,500 and ordered to pay costs of £4,700.
HSE inspector Saffron Turnell said: “This tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a young father. This death could easily have been prevented if those in control of operations at the grain store had acted to identify and manage the risks involved and put a safe system of work in place.”
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