Roofer's fatal fall caused by potato box balanced on forklift

Cheshire farm owner Denis Thornhill (78) and his company were fined after a man fell to his death on his premises.

Mark Young (64), who worked as a roofer, had been asked to repair a roof panel and fix a blocked gutter on a packing shed at Moss Hill Farm in Tarporley. During the repairs, Mr Young damaged a second roof panel, and arranged to return three days to repair this too.

On 29 January 2021, Mr Young returned with his son to complete the works. He asked Mr Thornhill to raise him up to carry out the works. The farmer brought a forklift truck to the site, with a wooden potato box balanced on its forks. Mr Young climbed inside the potato box and Mr Thornhill lifted him up 16 feet to position the replacement roof panel.

As he shifted his weight inside the potato box, Mr Young lost his balance and the box tipped over. He fell to the ground, sustaining serious head injuries. Paramedics were called, but they could not resuscitate Mr Young. He was pronounced dead at the scene, in front of his son.

Cheshire Constabulary and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a joint investigation, and found multiple shortcomings in the way Mr Thornhill had managed safety. There was no safe system of work for working at height, and he had chosen wholly unsuitable work equipment for lifting a person.

The potato box had none of the required safety features for a non-integrated work platform, nor had it been secured to the forklift to prevent the overbalance that caused Mr Young to fall to his death.

Forklift trucks must be subject to thorough examinations at regular intervals to check for defects and issues with its performance. Mr Thornhill’s forklift had no records of thorough examination, the machine was unsuited to lifting people, and he had no formal training to operate the truck.

HSE served a Prohibition Notice on his company, D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited, banning further work until a safe system of work was devised. Mr Thornhill pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and several breaches of health and safety law.

At Chester Crown Court, Denis Thornhill was cleared of manslaughter for the death of Mark Young. However, a jury found him guilty of breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, by virtue of 37(1) of the Act. Mr Thornhill was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,000.

His company, D.S. Thornhill (Rushton) Limited, was was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

HSE Inspector Ian Betley spoke after the hearing:

“This was a tragic incident that could so easily have been avoided.

“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.”

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