Hull magistrates this week heard that on 1st December 2015, Jeremy Waudby was hired to construct a new chicken shed at Argham Fields Farm near Driffield. He subcontracted AL Cladding but provided his own telehandler and work platform for them to work from.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) told the court that three of the cladding company workers were lifted up in the platform nearly five metres when it came adrift of the telehandler and fell to the ground.
The HSE investigation found that the work platform had not and could not have been connected to the telehandler in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions, which required three separate mechanical attachments. The necessary securing attachments were not there, and only one of the three had effectively been in place.
The platform fell onto one of the workers, trapping his shoulder and head. He also suffered a shattered right knee cap and crushed tibia and fibula. His father suffered three fractured vertebrae and a head wound needing 12 stitches.
Jeremy Waudby, trading as JG and GW Waudby of Lottings Farm, Barmby Moor, York, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £1200 with £558 costs.
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