A livestock mart has appeared in court after one of its employees was fatally injured when he was struck by a dairy bull that he was helping to load onto a lorry.
The incident occurred at Gisburn Auction Marts Ltd on August 25th, 2017.
Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that the employee was helping to move a bull and four cows towards a waiting lorry.
Whilst trying to load the livestock onto the lorry, the bull turned and attacked the employee, causing fatal injuries.
Dairy bull
A Health and Safety Executive-led investigation found that there were not any suitable refuges or barriers within the loading area for those handling the livestock to shelter behind if, for example, cattle became fractious.
Gisburn Auction Marts Ltd of The Auction Mart, Gisburn, Clitheroe, Lancashire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
The judge ordered the company to pay a fine to the tune of £18,000 along with £8,819 in costs.
HSE inspector, Anthony Banks, said that the mart could have prevented this incident “so easily”.
“The bull was able to strike the employee because he had been unable to outrun or out manoeuver the bull. He was unable to seek protection from any form of refuge or barrier when it began to charge.”
Banks stated that the company should have undertaken a “suitable and sufficient” risk assessment to identify, and put in place, the “appropriate” control measures.
Mart fined after horned bull attacks drover
Meanwhile, in December, we reported that a judge has ordered a mart to pay over £20,000 after a horned bull attacked a drover.
McCartneys LLP of The Ox Pasture, Overton Road, Ludlow, appeared before Telford Magistrates’ Court following an incident on September 16th, 2019.
The court heard that on that date, a drover McCartneys LLP employed was moving livestock at the auction site when a bull attacked him.
He was trying to secure the animal in a pen when the incident occurred. As a result, he suffered a serious laceration to his leg.
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