On 11 December 2017, Sheffield Countryside Conservation Trust (SCCT) was tree felling in Truman Road, Stocksbridge. The tree was being felled by chainsaw with the assistance of a winch and when the last cut was applied, instead of it falling in the expected direction, it twisted out of control and fell onto the lane. The tree came to rest on the site boundary wall and a security gate on the other side of the lane. At the time the woman and her grandson were walking up the lane and two were injured by the falling tree. The woman’s five-year-old granddaughter, also present, was uninjured.
Investigating, the HSE found that the characteristics of the particular tree were not properly assessed prior to felling and the tree did not fall in the intended direction. The investigation also found that:
Sheffield Countryside Conservation Trust of Wood Lane Countryside Centre, Stannington, Sheffield pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The trust was fined £3,000.00 and ordered to pay £1,000.00 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Eddy Tarn commented: “Use of signs and banksmen to warn members of the public should have been in place. This incident could have easily been prevented if a site-specific risk assessment and method statement had been used”.
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
