Timber firm fined after worker crushed by tree

A Herefordshire timber firm has been fined after a worker was crushed against a machine by a tree trunk. 

The 24-year-old forestry operator, who has asked not to be named, fractured his hip and damaged a knee in the incident at Westhide Wood on 24 August 2012. 

He was hospitalised for two weeks, and has had to seek alternative employment in another industry because he can no longer do manual work. He is also no longer playing sport at the level he used to. 

Hereford Magistrates’ Court heard, that he was one of a two-man team working for Leominster-based Chalford Timber Ltd. One was using a large forestry vehicle called a forwarder to crane trees into position to enable the injured worker to chainsaw the trunks into three-metre lengths. 

One tree became tangled in the branches of another as it was being moved and when it broke free hit him, forcing him against the machine. 

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had not followed established industry procedures to ensure no-one was within the “risk zone” of the machine while it was in operation. The operator of the machine should have ensured that the man on the ground was clear of the designated working zone, in a safe area and in view. 

Chalford Timber Ltd, of  Nordan, Leominster, Herefordshire, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £16,335 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. IOSH Managing Safely