Shropshire farm boss fined thousands over electric shock incident

Phillip Mansell, of Flashbrook Manor, Newport, was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £1,495 in costs after pleading guilty to three breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court yesterday.

His company Shutt and Mansell Ltd was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £800 in costs after admitting breaching the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations.

Mansell, 49, and Thomas Woodfield, 22, from Market Drayton, both suffered burns after a rope which had wire running through it was whipped up into the air and a caught mains power cable, magistrates heard.

The pair were knocked unconscious in the incident after being lifted in a telescopic loader bucket to work on two molasses tanks at Flashbrook Manor.

Clifford Brown, another employee at the 450-acre farm, brought the bucket down to find both men slumped unconscious inside.

Dr Marie-Louise Riley-Roberts, HSE inspector prosecuting, told the court Mansell had told Mr Woodfield to "jump in with him and hold on tight". Mr Brown lifted the pair to a height of 2.39 metres and Mr Woodfield picked up the rope pulling it out of the tank and the rope was whipped up in the air.

She added: "Clifford Brown heard a yelp made by Thomas Woodfield or Phillip Mansell and saw Thomas Woodfield slumped over the back edge of the bucket.

"Clifford Brown immediately dropped the bucket down to the ground and both men were lying flat-out unconscious in the bucket."

Mansell was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford with a burn to his arm and Mr Woodfield was flown by air ambulance to the burns unit at North Staffordshire Hospital with burns from his right elbow to shoulder and three exit burns.

The court heard the bucket was designed for general-purpose work, not for lifting people.

There was no protection in place, such as rails, raised sides or an anti-tilt mechanism for stopping people falling out. There were no verbal or written checks on working at height in the bucket and the work was not planned.

The court heard Mansell had a previous breach of health and safety regulations in September 2002 when he was partner at the same company. He and another employee fell through the roof of a cow shed and Mansell suffered a fractured skull.

Speaking after the hearing, Dr Riley-Roberts said: "There was a very real risk of persons falling from height.

"It's only down to luck that Mr Mansell and his co-worker, who were knocked unconscious, fell into the bucket and not out of it, otherwise we could be dealing with a tragic, double-fatal incident."