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18
Feb
Landscaping firm fined £38,000 after employee dies on lawnmower in North Stainley
A landscaping company has been fined almost £40,000 after one of its employees died when operating a ride-on lawnmower near Ripon.
The body of 23-year-old Kamil Grygieniec was discovered trapped under a ride-on lawnmower, which was submerged in a pond near Watermill Lane in North Stainley on October 8, 2021.
An inquest last November ruled Mr Grygieniec died as a result of blunt and sharp-force trauma to the head after the lawnmower rolled on top of him and he came into contact with the blades.
His employer at the time, Bishop Auckland-based MHS Countryside Management Ltd (MHS), admitted breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 and was sentenced at York Magistrates Court yesterday (February 17).
Its directors, Steven and Miroslava Houston, were in court.
Mr Grygieniec was cutting the grass around North Stainley that day as part of a long-standing contract between MHS and the parish council.
It was his last day at the company and he was due to start a new job the following week.
But it was later discovered the Kubota G23 lawnmower Mr Grygieniec had been operating that fateful day was not fitted with a rollover protective system (ROPS) despite this being a legal requirement.
Critical safety feature
ROPS are designed to protect operators in the event of a machine overturning and are a critical safety feature when working on uneven or sloping ground, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Frances Ellis, of the HSE, inspected the lawnmower after the incident and found “no mechanical reason” why the ROPS had not been attached to it.
During Mr Grygieniec’s inquest last November, Mr Houston said he “did not authorise” the removal of the ROPS and did not know who removed it.
It was also revealed MHS did not carry out a site-specific risk assessment as required, meaning the company did not know the gradient of the bank at North Stainley.
The company’s general risk assessment said ride-on lawnmowers should not be used on slopes above 15 degrees. However, the Kubota G23 owner’s manual said the lawnmower should not be used on slopes exceeding 11 degrees, which some parts of the pond bank did.
The North Stainley pond area, where Kamil Grygieniec was found dead
Harry Vann, defending, told the court Mr and Mrs Houston – who were not prosecuted as individuals – had been “very engaged in the case”.
They wanted to offer a “profound apology” for the incident.
He said there were no aggravating factors in the case, but felt there were “significant mitigating factors”.
These included the company having no previous convictions or enforcement history of any kind, as well as MHS voluntarily stopping all grass cutting services follow Mr Grygieniec’s death.
“MHS stayed to co-operate with the investigation to the best of its ability… it accepts its responsibility”, Mr Vann said.
District Judge Lower ordered MHS Countryside Management Ltd to pay a total of £38,347.
This comprises a £27,000 fine, £11,166 in prosecution costs and a £181 victim surcharge.
‘That day I lost a part of me’
The HSE issued a personal statement on behalf of Mr Grygieniec’s parents, Kristoff and Ava.
Ava said:
The pain I feel every day since that tragedy is unimaginable, I do not wish that on anybody. That day I lost part of me.
I will never be able to hug him, tell him how much I love him. I will never receive flowers from him, will never meet his wife or his children. Kamil was my physical and mental support.
That day was his last day at that workplace and it happened to be the last day of his short life.
I don’t know what life holds for the future for me, but what I am certain of is it will not be as full or as happy now that Kamil has gone from our lives.
What makes it even worse, I believe his death could have been prevented and should never have happened.
Ava told the court she hopes her son's death "will not be in vain" and that another family does not meet the same fate.
Failure to assess risks resulted in avoidable loss of life, HSE says
After the hearing, HSE inspector Darian Dundas said:
This is a profoundly tragic case which is made all the more harrowing because the safety feature designed to prevent incidents like this had been removed from the lawnmower – leading to the fatal turn of events which has robbed a family of their loved one.
The completion of a suitable and sufficient site-specific risk assessment is vital before undertaking work activities and ensures appropriate action can be taken to eliminate hazards or, where this is not possible, to properly control the risks.
In this case, the failure to assess the risks and ensure suitable safety measures were in place resulted in a tragic and entirely avoidable loss of life.
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