Interface

38 Issue 3 2020 HEALTH & SAFETY COUNCIL INSPECTION FOUND WANTING, AFTER FALLING TREE BRANCH CAUSES DEATH W irral Borough Council has been fined after a branch from a tree fell and struck the vehicle of a pregnant mother while she was driving with her two children. Elizabeth Stear was injured in the incident and her baby later died after being born prematurely. Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard that 39-year-old Elizabeth, who was 36 weeks pregnant, had been performing the daily school run. She was driving along the A551 Arrowe Park Road with her 13-year-old daughter and six-year- old son when her moving vehicle was struck by a large branch falling from a mature horse chestnut tree. The branch broke through the windscreen and front driver window and struck the right side of Elizabeth’s stomach. She was taken to hospital with suspected major trauma and her baby girl, Lucia Jayne Stear, was delivered by an emergency caesarean, before dying 15 hours later. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the large branch had a crack on its upper edge where it was joined to the main trunk. It had begun to separate from the main trunk for at least one growing season before the failure. The tree, located within the boundary of Arrowe Park, adjacent to the highway, had not been inspected for at least 13 years. Wirral Borough Council failed to identify and manage the risks from falling trees and branches, and failed to implement a robust system of inspection of trees in its remit despite a similar incident occurring on Arrowe Park Road in January 2015. Wirral Borough Council of Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The Local Authority was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £49,363. LANDSCAPING COMPANY FINED AFTER WORKER SUFFERS HEAD INJURIES A company specialising in landscaping and garden machinery has been fined following an incident where a worker suffered head injuries on site at a school in Cromer, Norfolk. Peterborough Magistrates’ Court heard that Jeremy Buck suffered multiple fractures to the side of his face when his head became trapped between an excavator’s bucket and a gate post. Mr Buck had been watching to ensure the machine did not hit the nearby fence when pushing soil but became trapped when he was facing away from the approaching excavator. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Garden Discount Centre Limited/ trading as GDC Ltd, from St Olaves, Great Yarmouth, failed to assess the risks of the task and implement safety measures. Furthermore, no specific training for banking or operating excavators was given to employees, including the injured man and the excavator driver. Employees were not instructed on safe working practices with or near moving site plant. Garden Discount Centre Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,745.50.