Council ordered to pay £25k after park keeper severely injured

A city council has been ordered to pay nearly £25,000 in fines and costs after a park keeper was injured when a tractor overturned.

Bristol City Council admitted at the city’s Magistrates Court last week to two breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

In May 2012 the 51-year-old park keeper was driving the tractor with a trailer attached down a slope when she braked. The tractor skidded and overturned when the park keeper tried to avoid a fence.

The employee was thrown from her seat as the tractor did not have a seat belt or other form of restraint.

The court heard that the council had failed to ensure the park keeper had received adequate training on the use of the tractor. Bristol had acquired the tractor shortly before the incident but outside the normal procurement procedure. No supplier training was provided.

The employee broke her pelvis and badly damaged her Achilles tendon in the incident. She was off work for a year but now has an office job.

The court fined Bristol City Council £20,000 and ordered it to pay £4,700 in costs.

HSE inspector Kate Leftly said: “This incident was entirely preventable and has caused the worker considerable suffering and distress. She had trained three years for her park keeper role but is now office-bound and will need further surgery on the tendon requiring a 12-18 month recovery.”

She added: “Bristol City Council had inadequate systems in place to ensure operators were suitably trained in the use of this equipment and failed to identify the need for a suitable seat restraint.”