Cheshire farm owner fined after man falls from forklift

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 1st February 2021. 

Earlier this year, both Thornhill and the company were 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 11th October 2024 to be sentenced. 

During the trial, the court was told that on 29th 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.  

Mr 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 and caused it to overbalance. The man fell to the floor and sustained serious head injuries. 

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

Easily avoided tragedy 

HSE Inspector Ian Betley said that this tragic incident 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,” he added. 

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No safe work system in place 

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 Mr 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. 

Mr Thornhill 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. 

READ MORE: Welsh farmer found dead in slurry tank 

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