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Yorks council to pay £40k over gardener's death
A YORKSHIRE council has been ordered to pay £40,000 in fines and costs after the "entirely avoidable" death of a gardener crushed by a mower on an embankment.
Frank Smith was fatally injured on May 19, 2005, after the ride-on lawnmower he was using at Water End in York slid down a slope and hit a wall before flipping over on top of him. The 54 year old died at the scene.
York Crown Court Recorder Jonathan Hill QC today heard City of York Council had taken steps since Mr Smith's "tragic and untimely death" to prevent any similar re-occurrence but said the Hayter mower was unsuitable for use in this location.
The court was told the manufacturer advised against the mower's use on slopes steeper than 19, a figure since reduced to 17, but the section of embankment where Mr Smith's machine slipped was 25.4.
The mower was not fitted with a roll bar, or seatbelt, which do not come as standard. Consultants hired by the council to conduct a risk assessment had not advised the authority to purchase the roll bar.
Recorder Jonathan Hill QC said the risk assessment was inadequate and lacked sufficient detail to give guidance to employees, while managers and supervisors had not attended the training course junior staff were sent on. "There was a serious and substantial inadequacy in the working systems in place," he added.
York Council had last month admitted an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act of failing to ensure the safety of its employees cutting grass using ride-on lawnmowers.
The local authority was fined 20,000 and ordered to pay 20,425 in prosecution costs, which includes the 9,332 cost of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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