Bradford Council has been fined £12,000 and ordered to pay nearly £10,000 in costs after admitting serious safety breaches that could have resulted in the death of an employee.
Bradford Magistrates heard the 23-year-old worker from Bingley was pruning branches at a height of some 35 feet when the cherry picker overturned, sending him crashing to the ground.
The man suffered multiple injuries including fractures to his spine, collar bone, pelvis and right leg, plus internal injuries that needed surgery.
The incident happened in July last year and left the man out of work for more than five months. Although he has since returned, he is no longer able to carry out tree work at height.
Investigations were carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted Bradford Council after identifying a series of failings involving the planning and preparation of the work.
The court was told two tree workers set up the cherry picker correctly on a compacted path in the woods and one of them was working in the extended cradle among the tree tops. As he rotated the boom arm and cradle to move from tree to tree, the weight distribution of the machine changed and the cherry picker overturned.
The HSE investigation found the wrong type of ground mats had been provided to the team to put underneath the machine’s feet. The unbalanced machine then toppled without warning.
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