An animal grain company has been fined after one of its workers fell from height, sustaining head injuries.

A court heard how in December 2009 the mill operative was climbing into an excavator bucket to prepare a specialist animal feed mix.

He lost his balance and fell approximately five feet onto the concrete floor below, receiving a cut to his head which needed to be stapled, and losing consciousness for a short while.

A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had put no safe system of work in place for preparing the specialist mix.

The investigation also revealed that the company had not carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks involved because this was a task that was required only occasionally. The firm was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Colin Leaver said the incident was entirely preventable.

"There is no excuse for the company not to have carried out a straightforward risk assessment, nor to have agreed procedures for how this work was to be carried out safely," he said.

Falls from height were responsible for over 4,000 major work injuries in 2008/09, according to the HSE.

Article courtesy of Aviva PLC. Published 15/04/11