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TEEN HURT BECAUSE OF WORK COMPLACENCY

By County Press Reporter - Friday, February 16, 2007
TEEN HURT BECAUSE OF WORK COMPLACENCY
Gary Wills, guilty of health and safety offences.
A TEENAGER could have been killed because of a Northwood farmer’s “cavalier and complacent approach” to health and safety.
David Mitchell suffered severe crush injuries to his shoulder when he was pinned against a powerful forestry machine by its hydraulic arm.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted Gary Wills for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, said the accident in Firestone Copse on January 16, 2005, could easily have been fatal had the arm hit the teenager’s head.
On Wednesday, a jury at the IW Crown Court found Wills, 61, of Pallance Lane, guilty of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of Mr Mitchell.
They heard Wills, described as an experienced countryman, had been sub-contracted by forester Roger Lamplugh to thin out an area of the Forestry Commission woodland, near Wootton.
The teenager was part of a team put together by Wills to undertake the work.
Mr Mitchell said they were working in the forest when Wills told him to go on to the roof of the Forwarder machine, which was operating at the time, to investigate an oil leak.
This led to the accident when the grappler arm swung round and pinned him against the air-conditioning unit.
Mr Mitchell also said that over the weekend, January 15 to 16, he was allowed to use a chainsaw unsupervised and, on occasions, without protective clothing.
Mark Balysz, prosecuting on behalf of the HSE, said the reality was Wills took a cavalier and complacent approach to health and safety.
The defence argued Mr Mitchell took it upon himself to clamber on to the machine, despite warnings in the past to keep a safe distance.
Wills, now retired, also highlighted safeguards he put in place and said he spent half a day instructing Mr Mitchell with the chainsaw and the whole team was looking out for him. The jury also heard from Mr Lamplugh, who said he had never had cause to question Wills’s approach to safety.
Speaking after the case, Bryony Mitchell, acting principal inspector, said: “Young people may lack the knowledge and experience of the risks present in work environments, especially with dangerous operations like, in this case, forestry.”
Wills, who will be sentenced in Southampton in April, told the CP: “I still feel I was not guilty. I am sorry the accident ever happened but we never felt it was a health and safety issue. He was never put in any danger.”