£30,000 fine after man fell off box and died in front of his son

Mark Young sustained serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene

A farmer has been fined after a man fell to his death from a potato box perched on a forklift truck - while attempting to repair the roof of a packing shed. Mark Young, 64, fell around 16ft and died at Moss Hall Farm in Cheshire as his son watched on.

Mr Young sustained serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene in early 2021. An investigation found the accident could "easily" have been avoided if more suitable equipment had been used to raise Mr Young to fix the roof.

Farm owner Denis Thornhill and his company - D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited - were convicted of breaching health and safety legislation following a six-week trial at Chester Crown Court, and have been ordered to pay £30,000 in fines and costs. The court heard Mr Young fell whilst trying to repair the roof of a packing shed at Thornhill's farm in the village of Tarporley, Cheshire.

On January 29, the roofer had been tasked with repairing a roof panel and fixing a blocked gutter on the same building. However, as he walked across the roof, he damaged a second panel, so a replacement was purchased to carry out the additional repair.

Mr Young returned to the farm with his son three days later to repair the panel and asked to be raised up to do it. Thornhill, 78, arrived with a forklift truck with a potato box balanced on its forks, and Mr Young was raised in the box to a height of around 16ft - nearly five metres - whilst his son attempted to reposition the panel from above.

But as Mr Young moved to one side of the potato box it became overbalanced, and he fell to the floor, hitting his head and sustaining serious injuries. Although paramedics were called, they were unable to resuscitate him and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Ian Betley explained that the forklift and potato box were "unsuitable" pieces of equipment with which to undertake the work and that a scaffold, scissor lift, or cherry picker should have been used instead.

“This was a tragic incident that could so easily have been avoided," he said. “The forklift truck and potato box were the wrong pieces of equipment for the job and never a suitable platform for working at height.

"The work should instead have been carried out using a tower scaffold, scissor lift, or a cherry picker. “In bringing the forklift truck and potato box and using it to lift Mark at height, the company was in control of the work but had failed to implement proper planning and safe execution of it.

“All companies have a legal duty to ensure the safety of workers they employ or who carry out work for them. If that had happened in this case, then Mark’s life wouldn’t have been lost."

A joint investigation by Cheshire Constabulary and the HSE found there was no safe system of work implemented for working at height on the day of the accident, and that unsuitable work equipment was used. The potato box did not have the required safety features for a non-integrated work platform and had not been secured in a way to prevent it from overbalancing.

Additionally, the forklift truck had not been thoroughly examined at the required frequency and was unsuitable for lifting people.

The investigation also found that Thornhill was not formally trained to operate the forklift. Enforcement action was subsequently taken following the accident and a Prohibition Notice was served on the company prohibiting further work until a safe system was devised.

Though a jury cleared Thornhill of gross negligence manslaughter, they found both him and his company guilty of breaching health and safety legislation. Thornhill was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,000, whilst D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.