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One of the UK's largest potato growing firms has received a fine for the work accident injury of an agricultural worker who suffer electric shock and burns after hoisting an irrigation pipe across a 33,000-volt overhead power line.
The effects of the electric shock work accident injury have been traumatic for the 20-year-old man – he sustained internal injuries and serious burns and eventually had to have his big toe amputated.
During a health and safety prosecution relating to the incident, it was determined that employees and contractors at the Cambridgeshire site had not received sufficient training and that, crucially, there had been no appropriate risk assessment.
An HSE inspector who looked into the circumstances leading to the work accident injury commented, "This was a horrible incident which was entirely preventable had his employers made [the injured man] aware of the overhead power lines and the risk they posed to the working environment.
"[He] is lucky to be alive. However, that doesn't deflect from the severity of the injuries he suffered and the nine weeks he spent in hospital.
"Between ten and fifteen people are killed each year by inadvertent contact with overhead power lines, and on average two of these work in agriculture. Employers must ensure that appropriate training and supervision is provided to employees and contractors and a sufficient risk assessment must also be carried out."
There is no report as to whether the injured man will be making a compensation claim for the work accident injury, although it is likely that any such claim will benefit from the HSE inspection ruling.
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