An Essex tree surgeon has been fined £10,000 after he fell from a tree while holding a running a chainsaw and landed on a colleague.
Gilbert Bradfield, aged 71, from Great Bentley, suffered minor injuries but his 72-year-old co-worker spent four days in hospital with a severe cut to the head, a dislocated shoulder, a punctured lung and other internal injuries.
On discharge he collapsed at home, dislocating both shoulders, and spent nearly eight weeks in intensive care with a severe chest infection. Nerve damage to his shoulders means he has very little use of both arms and requires constant care.
Mr Bradfield, who had worked as a tree surgeon and landscape gardener for some 30 years, was prosecuted after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that he had failed to make sure the work was carried out safely.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard on 14 November that Mr Bradfield was contracted to fell the tree in a garden near Harwich and employed three casual workers to help him.
After removing lower branches with a chainsaw, they put up an extending ladder to provide higher access. To increase the height of the ladder, they placed its foot in the rear of their pick-up truck, which was parked at the base of the tree.
Mr Bradfield climbed four to five metres to cut through the trunk and remove the top third of the tree using a heavy, rear-handled chainsaw. As the top of the tree was cut, it swung around and knocked him off the ladder so that he fell, still holding the chainsaw, and landed on the man footing the ladder.
The HSE found that none of the men operating chainsaws were wearing personal protective equipment and equipment for working at height, such as harnesses or ropes, had not been used. Neither Mr Bradfield or any of his employees had a certificate of competence in even basic chainsaw skills or tree surgery.
Mr Bradfield was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £889 after pleading guilty to single breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Anthony Brookes said: “Gilbert Bradfield had not properly planned this work, and the way it was tackled almost doomed it to failure from the start.
“Tree work is a hazardous occupation and it is essential that the risks are recognised. In the last ten years, 24 tree surgeons have been killed and 1,400 have been injured.”
HSE figures show that in 2013-14, falls from height were the most common cause of fatalities, accounting for nearly three in ten (29 per cent) of the total. They also accounted for 2,895 of 18,877 major or specified injuries (15 per cent).
Employers have a legal obligation to ensure that work at height is properly planned; appropriately supervised; and carried out in a way that is, as far as reasonably practicable, safe. They must also ensure that employees using work equipment have been properly trained to do so.
Palmers can assist employers by carrying out risk assessments, to help employers establish how far their business complies with health and safety law and advise on any action necessary to achieve compliance. For more information, please contact Lara Murray.
In the event of an investigation or prosecution on a health and safety matter, please contact Jeremy Sirrell.