HHP responds to court fine
14 July 2005
Hall Hunter Partnership today accepted the fine imposed by His Honour Judge Playford at Reading Crown Court following an inquest into the tragic and devastating deaths of two young Polish workers in an accident at Sheeplands Farm, near Twyford, Berkshire, on 19th October 2002.
Sebastian Skorupski and Adam Borowik, both Polish workers on the farm, were killed when they were caught up in a rope-winding machine used to dismantle polytunnels.
Hall Hunter Partnership pleaded guilty to two charges: (a) inadequate risk assessment, and (b) inadequate training of Sebastian Skorupski.
Mark Hall, senior partner at Hall Hunter Partnership (HHP), said: “This incident horrified us all and we deeply regret the loss of life and the suffering caused to these two families. We are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our workers.
“We accept the fine and the comments of the judge and our responsibility as employers for this tragic incident. Since it occurred we have worked closely with the equipment manufacturers and the Health and Safety Executive to improve safety monitoring and procedures on farms across the UK and Europe.”
Following the accident, HHP commissioned a thorough review of all their farm equipment and sponsored research on making winches ‘safer by design’. The recommended designs have since been used by the government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a Hazard Bulletin issued to the UK horticultural industry.
HHP has implemented a rigorous safety training programme in four languages for all its employees, introduced an incident reporting system and regularly carries out risk assessments.
They have sponsored several health and safety initiatives including:
- A four-day examinable safety training course for managers called ‘Managing Safely in Horticulture’. The course, run by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, is made available to the industry and is used on farms across the UK and Europe.
- Eleven different safety videos on fruit farming. These have been translated into Russian, Polish and Bulgarian, and distributed to 20 farms in the UK. They are available to any farmer who may want to use them.
- Two safety handbooks on soft fruit production, also in four languages. These are circulated to specific staff members and the 20 farms who are using the videos (above).
- Created and implemented two benchmarking systems to improve safety performance at HHP and at other organisations in the UK.
- Formation of the Southern Benchmarking Group together with two engineering companies. This allows HHP to benchmark against standards in other industries and share best practice.
