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email this page to a friendTHE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning farmers and rural businesses about the dangers involved in riding a quad bike after a farm worker was killed when his all-terrain vehicle (ATV) overturned on a Yorkshire Dales farm.
Colin and Sharon Moorhouse of Long Bank Farm at Halton West, near Skipton, were fined £12,000 and £1,000 respectively and ordered to pay full costs of £12,260 for failing to ensure the safety at work of one their employees, Michael Fielden.
no-one is invulnerable and many quad bike accidents have happened to older, experienced farm workers
Morag Irwin - Health and Safety Executive
In the hearing at Skipton Magistrates' Court, both defendants pleaded guilty to charges brought by the HSE under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc (HSW) Act 1974.
HSE Inspector Morag Irwin said: "Sadly this is not an isolated incident. In the ten year period between May 1996 and March 2006 23 people were killed across the country in accidents at work on quad bikes. Of these 17 involved head injuries where no head protection was worn.
"If you don't wear a helmet you greatly increase the risk of serious injury, as this tragic case has shown. There are new designs of lightweight, ventilated helmets now available which are cut away at the ears so that you can still have a conversation and hear extraneous noises like phones and animals. These can be bought for as little as £25 - not a great expense for something that may well save your life.
"Everyone thinks that it won't happen to them. But no-one is invulnerable and many quad bike accidents have happened to older, experienced farm workers. There are things you can do to manage the risk - always wear a helmet, maintain the vehicle properly, and consider getting some proper training in how to handle the quad bike."
- Section 2(1) of the HSW Act states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees". The maximum fine in a Magistrates' Court for charges under Section 2(1) of the HSW Act is £20,000.
