UK: Salad grower fined £30k after employee fall

An Essex salad grower has been prosecuted for safety failings after a worker suffered extensive injuries when she had to jump from a runaway mobile working platform at its nurseries in Nazeing.

Zofia Jurek, 63, jumped from the moving platform at a height of about 1.4 metres as it accelerated down a ramp and towards a greenhouse door during the incident on 25 July 2013.

As she landed on the concrete floor she fractured her skull, suffering a brain haemorrhage, and broke her heel, which required metal plates to repair.

Ms Jurek’s head injury has affected her hearing, balance, and ability to read. The back of her skull is still very sensitive to touch and heat and she has not fully regained her sense of smell and taste. She was on crutches for several months, is still unable to stand for very long and has not been able to return to work.

Valley Grown Nurseries Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found that more could and should have been done to prevent the incident. The nurseries were fined £22,000 and ordered to pay £8,830 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Click here to read the complete article at hse.gov.uk