Nottinghamshire County Council has appeared in court following an incident in which a three-year-old girl suffered bruising to her head and leg, after she was struck by a park ranger’s vehicle.
Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard Nottinghamshire Council staff were using a lightweight all-terrain vehicle to travel around the park whilst emptying litter bins at the Robin Hood Festival in August 2011.
The utility vehicle on which two council staff were travelling went out of control and collided with the child who was seated in a pushchair.
The HSE prosecuting told the court that its investigation had found the council had not undertaken a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. HSE told the court that had it undertaken such an assessment then another method of collecting litter would have been used.
The court also heard the council had received previous warnings in the shape of HSE Improvement Notices in relation to undertaking risk assessments.
Nottinghamshire County Council of County Hall, Fox Road, West Bridgford pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 3(1)(b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It was fined £6,000 with £5,597 costs.
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