Farm Owners Fined £85,000 for Electrocution

“This tragic incident could easily have been prevented…”

A scrap metal collector was electrocuted when the crane he was using hit overhead power lines. Earlier this month the farm owners were fined £85,000 plus costs for breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.

Section 3 (1) of the HASWA states:

3. General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their employees.
(1)It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

As reported by the Chester Chronicle HSE inspector Jane Carroll said:

“This tragic incident could easily have been prevented if the farm partnership had acted to identify and manage the risks involved with overhead power lines on their land, and to put a safe system of work in place.

The dangers associated with OHPL are well known and a wealth of advice and guidance is freely available from HSE and other energy suppliers.”

Although there were warning signs in place the driver had a sensitivity to bright light that made them difficult to see.

Unfortunately, the scrap metal that was to be collected was under the overhead power lines.

Although pre-arranged the collection of the scrap (old IBC cages) was unsupervised.

Next steps?

  • Take a walk around your farm now and make a note of any overhead hazards within your farm and fields.
  • Draw up a map (even a sketch) showing where these hazards are.
  • Do you need to install signs warning people of the hazards? See the Resources on this page of the HSE’s site.
  • Make sure any contractors or delivery drivers (as well as your own staff) know of these potential hazards if they are going to be working in the vicinity. Point them out (and/or give them a map?).
  • Try to avoid any work, “so far as is reasonably practicable”, having to be done under or near the power lines.