A contractor from Dorset has been fined after a tree fell onto a forestry worker and left him with life-changing injuries.
Gerald Hayward, who had been contracted as part of an ash dieback clearance programme, had been cutting the tree before it fell. Mr Hayward, trading as G H Hayward Forestry Contractors, had been making a back cut to the tree when it fell in the wrong direction. It then landed on the injured worker, who was standing in a nearby bridle path.
The worker, from Frome in Somerset, sustained eight broken ribs, a broken pelvis, two broken ankles, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding. He was placed in an induced coma for two weeks and later spent four months in hospital.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Hayward, who was in charge of the tree felling, failed to implement a safe working zone around the tree as it was being felled. A safe working zone is usually twice the size of the tree, with only the felling operator permitted inside the zone. The tree fell in the unintended direction as the cut made by Mr Hayward did not leave a functioning hinge.
Gerald Hayward, of Blandford Forum, Dorset pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on 15 October 2024.
For the full investigation: Contractor fined after worker left paralysed by falling tree | HSE Media Centre
Comments