21 Aug 2018
Man killed after being hit by Manitou telehandler on farm
A police investigation has been launched after the death of a man on a farm in North Yorkshire.
The 71-year-old was killed on Sunday, October 28 after being hit by a Manitou telehandler on a farm in Richmondshire.
Land and air ambulances and police attended the incident. Despite their efforts, he died at the scene.
A spokeswoman from North Yorkshire Police said: “A police investigation is underway to determine the circumstances around the incident.
“A 33-year-old man from Darlington has been interviewed under caution.”
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A police spokesman said: “Our initial notification is that a member of the public was killed when struck by a telehandler.”
The NFU is aware of the incident and is liaising with the farmer.
The incident comes as farm safety leaders call for an urgent rethink into the way farmers aged 60 and over consider safe working.
The impact of the eldering workforce was last week highlighted as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that despite making up just 10 per cent of the national workforce, the 60+ age group contributed to more than 40 per cent of work-related fatalities in 2017/18 – the highest it had been in over a decade and up from 25 per cent last year.
Of the 144 workers killed in 2017/18, 29 were in the agricultural sector – one more than the five-year annual average and 14 of which were over the age of 65.
Stephanie Berkeley of the Farm Safety Foundation, a small independent charity established to target Young Farmers of 16 to 40 years, said work with the younger generation had shown that behavioural change was possible and ‘the physical and mental well-being of our wonderful farmers merits an ongoing focus and real action’.
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