Overview
- Bell Mount Farming Limited pleaded guilty at Warrington Magistrates’ Court to breaching Regulation 11(1)(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was ordered to pay a £50,000 fine plus £6,038 in costs.
- Alban Watts, 61, died on January 11, 2023, at the company’s Great Salkeld site when his clothing became entangled in an unguarded sprocket on a hen feeding system.
- The HSE found the machine’s guard could be lifted off, with stripped and misaligned bolt holes making it impossible to secure, contrary to guidance requiring fixed guards that need tools to remove.
- The feeding system operated in three‑minute cycles throughout the day, and Mr Watts was working alone when the entanglement occurred.
- Family members said his life was worth less than a “50p screw” and urged lessons to be learned, while the HSE inspector condemned the lapse as basic and warned of firm action against unsafe employers.