A Cheshire farm owner has been fined after a man fell to his death from a forklift truck while attempting to repair the roof of a packing shed at his premises in Tarporley.

Denis Thornhill and his company D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited were fined a combined £16,000 after 64-year-old Mark Young was killed at Moss Hall Farm on 1 February 2021.

Earlier this year, both Thornhill and the company been found guilty of breaching health and safety legislation following a six-week trial at Chester Crown Court. The jury cleared 78-year-old Thornhill on a charge of gross negligence manslaughter. They returned to the same court on 11 October 2024 to be sentenced.

During the trial, the court was told that on 29 January 2021, Mr Young, who worked as a roofer, had been asked to make repairs to a roof panel and fix a blocked gutter on the same building. However, as he was walking across the roof, he damaged a second roof panel so a replacement was purchased to carry out an additional repair.

He returned with his son three days later to complete the work and asked to be raised up to do it. Denis Thornhill arrived with a forklift truck that had a potato box balanced on its forks. Mr Young was lifted up inside the potato box to a height of around 16 feet, while his son, who was on the roof, attempted to reposition the panel from above. As Mr Young moved to one side of the potato box, it caused it to overbalance and he fell to the floor sustained serious head injuries.

Although paramedics were called, they were unable to resuscitate him and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.

HSE Inspector Ian Betley said after the hearing: “This was a tragic incident that could so easily have been avoided.

“The forklift truck and potato box were the wrong pieces of equipment for the job and never a suitable platform for working at height. The work should instead have been carried out using a tower scaffold, scissor lift, or a cherry picker.

“In bringing the forklift truck and potato box and using it to lift Mark at height, the company was in control of the work but had failed to implement proper planning and safe execution of it.

“All companies have a legal duty to ensure the safety of workers they employ or who carry out work for them. If that had happened in this case, then Mark’s life wouldn’t have been lost.”

A joint investigation by Cheshire Constabulary and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that on the day of the accident there was no safe system of work implemented for working at height and unsuitable work equipment was used. The potato box did not have the required safety features for a non-integrated work platform and had not been secured in a way to prevent it overbalancing. Additionally, the forklift truck had not been subjected to a thorough examination at the required frequency and was unsuitable for lifting people and Denis Thornhill was not formally trained in operating the forklift truck. Enforcement action was taken and a Prohibition Notice was served on the company prohibiting further work until a safe system was devised.

Denis Thornhill of Eaton Lane, Tarporley, Cheshire was cleared of manslaughter but was also found guilty of breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, by virtue of 37(1) of the Act and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,000.

D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited of Moss Hall Farm, Moss Hall Lane, Tarporley, Cheshire was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Notes to editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.  The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences in England and Wales can be found here and for those in Scotland here.

A Cheshire-based electrical transmission company has been fined £240,000 after a man was left paralysed from the chest down after a fall at work.

Gavin Pugh, from Bangor in North Wales, was 35 at the time of the incident and employed as a linesman by Wood Transmission and Distribution Limited. He had been demolishing and replacing electricity pylons in East Staffordshire when he fell more than 30 feet on 6 April 2022.

Birmingham Magistrates Court was told how Mr Pugh and his colleagues began working on a pylon known as Tower AE11 in preparation for its demolition. They were unaware there had been previous work to loosen the bolts on the tower, known as “bolt cracking”, undertaken by another team of linesmen. This work had not been risk assessed and there were no systems in place to effectively record and communicate what they had actually done.

In addition, the team that was sent to site that day was also under-staffed for the work being carried out. As the job progressed, Mr Pugh unknowingly attached his fall protection lanyard to a diagonal steel section that was only securely bolted in place at its uppermost fixing. As he moved around the tower, the steel section he was attached to dropped into a vertical position, causing his lanyard to fall loose, resulting in him falling to the ground. He spent six months in hospital and has been left unable to work as a result of his extensive injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Wood Transmission and Distribution Limited failed to ensure that the work at height was properly planned, appropriately supervised, and carried out in a manner that was, so far as was reasonably practicable, safe. The company had not considered the work at height hierarchy as part of its planning and had not assessed the risks associated with bolt cracking. Furthermore, it had not adequately resourced the task in line with its own safety documentation, and had failed to put in place a process for transferring work between teams and ensuring safety critical information was recorded and communicated effectively.

On 12 April 2024, Wood Transmission and Distribution Limited, of Booths Park, Chelford Road in Knutsford pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates Court to breaching regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulation 2005. At a hearing on 17 July 2024 they were subsequently fined £240,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,142.

HSE Inspector Robert Gidman said: “This tragic incident could have been prevented had Wood Transmission and Distribution Limited put in place adequate arrangements to protect its workers from harm.

“Proper assessment of the risks and consideration of work methods, adequate staffing, and clear procedures for transferring towers between teams could have enabled this work to go ahead without incident.

“Instead, because of the company’s shortcomings, a worker has sadly and unnecessarily been left paralysed.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

Notes to editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.  The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.