Tree feller fined after forestry worker crushed

A man has been fined after felling a tree that landed on a forestry worker, paralysing him from the stomach down.

Gerald Hayward of Blandford Forum, Dorset, had been contracted as part of an ash dieback clearance programme when he made a cut to the tree that resulted in it falling in the wrong direction.

A 69ft (21m) ash tree landed on a 61-year-old man, then 58, at the Fonthill Estate in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in January 2022. He suffered eight broken ribs, a broken pelvis, two broken ankles, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding.

Mr Hayward pleaded guilty at Salisbury Magistrates' Court to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.

The injured worker, from Frome in Somerset, was standing in a nearby bridle path.

After the incident he was placed in an induced coma for two weeks, and he spent four months in hospital.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Hayward, who was trading as G H Hayward Forestry Contractors and in charge of the tree felling, "failed to implement a safe working zone around the tree as it was being felled".

Such a zone is usually twice the size of the tree, and only the felling operator is permitted inside it.

The HSE said it fell in the "unintended direction" as the cut made "did not leave a functioning hinge", which is when a portion of the trunk is kept intact to help guide the tree's fall.

HSE inspector James Hole said: "This was a serious incident that has led to an individual sustaining life-changing injuries meaning he is now unable to work and requires lifelong care.

"Mr Hayward failed to create a safe working zone around the tree while it was being cut down – this is a standard working practice for tree felling in woodland.

"He failed to implement the correct control measures and a safe system of work.

"Had Mr Hayward done this then this incident would have been prevented and the individual would not be paralysed and facing the rest of his life without the use of his legs."

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