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Farm fined after boy, 9, suffers serious injury from ATV driven by 13-year-old
The boy was travelling as a passenger in the ATV when the vehicle overturned and trapped his leg between the ground and the roll over protection bars.
Lauren Dean
A farming partnership in Devon has been sentenced after a child suffered a serious leg injury while travelling in an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) on farmland.
The boy, 9, was travelling as a passenger in the ATV when the vehicle overturned and trapped his leg between the ground and the roll over protection bars.
The ATV was being driven by a 13-year-old.
Exeter Magistrates Court heard how the boy suffered a serious break to his lower leg as well as an open wound which required a skin graft from his back.
E C Haste of Shebbearm Beaworthy, Devon, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £28,333 plus £5,254 costs.
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The incident happened on May 7 2017.
Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Emma O’Hara said: “Farms are first and foremost a workplace and children should be kept safe.
Inexperience
“Farmers should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards, especially where children are involved.”
An investigation by the HSE found the most likely cause of the overturn was the inexperience and age of the driver, who had no formal training.
It said the manufacturer’s instructions and signage on the machine made it ‘absolutely clear’ it was not suitable for use by under-16s and that children should not be carried as passengers.
Ms O’Hara added: “No child under 13 should use an ATV for work and children over 13 should only use appropriate-sized lower power ATVs after formal training.”
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