{"id":3818,"date":"2026-04-02T00:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/3818\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T00:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:04:12","slug":"nottinghamshire-employer-fined-50000-after-man-fell-two-metres-and-cracked-ribs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/3818\/","title":{"rendered":"Nottinghamshire employer fined \u00a350,000 after man fell two metres and cracked ribs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The employer entered early guilty pleas to breaking health and safety legislation\"The<\/p>\n

The site where the lawnmower flipped over(Image: HSE)<\/p>\n

A Nottinghamshire council has been fined \u00a350,000 after one of its employees fell by more than two metres and cracked his ribs.<\/a><\/p>\n

Bassetlaw District Council<\/a> entered early guilty pleas to breaching sections of health and safety legislation over the incident in a churchyard on May 30, 2024.<\/p>\n

One of the Labour-run authority’s employees was carrying out routine maintenance in the graveyard of St Peter and St Paul’s Church, in the village of North Wheatley.<\/a><\/p>\n

The employee lost control of a ride-on mower as it slid down an incredibly steep bank towards a retaining wall.<\/p>\n

The machine and the employee both rolled over the wall, falling 2.3 metres to the pavement and road below.<\/p>\n

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and found that Bassetlaw<\/a> District Council had not carried out a proper risk assessment over employees operating ride-on mowers on banks and slopes.<\/p>\n

The council also failed to provide proper information or training to employees about using the machinery on slopes and banks and no measures were in place at the retaining wall to stop a fall.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The location where the incident took place in the village of North Wheatley(Image: HSE)<\/p>\n

The council was fined \u00a350,000, ordered to pay \u00a35,138.85 in costs and a victim surcharge of \u00a32,000 at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday (March 30).<\/p>\n

David Armiger, the Chief Executive of Bassetlaw District Council, said: “We entered an early guilty plea to both charges and have fully cooperated with the HSE throughout their investigation and implemented all of their recommendations.<\/p>\n

“Since the accident and the findings of the HSE investigation,<\/a> we have considerably improved our approach to the management of risk and have been extremely proactive in implementing new and enhanced ways of working, with an ongoing commitment to investment in further change.<\/p>\n

“We take our responsibilities very seriously and remain committed to a positive health and safety culture at the council, with awareness and compliance paramount.<\/p>\n

“The employee who was involved in this accident returned to work several months ago and we continue to support them.”<\/p>\n

Mr Armiger said Bassetlaw District Council is spending \u00a3350,000 in health and safety training over the coming years and that the authority has restructured its health and safety team, including the creation of new roles.<\/p>\n

HSE Inspector Muir Finlay said: “This was a serious incident which could have been much worse.<\/p>\n

“The fine imposed on the district council should underline to all employers that work on banks and slopes should only be undertaken when a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks has been carried out and appropriate controls or training provided.<\/p>\n

“HSE will not hesitate to take action against those that do not do all that they should to keep people safe and healthy at work.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The employer entered early guilty pleas to breaking health and safety legislation The site where the lawnmower flipped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[141,29,1139,5,6,1095],"class_list":{"0":"post-3818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-courts","9":"tag-employment","10":"tag-nottinghamshire","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-worksop"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116332190959917251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}