Poultry firm fined £50k over unguarded feeder death

A Cumbrian egg producer has been fined after a long-serving worker died when his clothing became entangled in an unguarded feeding system – a tragedy his family say could have been prevented “for the cost of a 50 pence screw”.

Alban Watts, 61, from Blencow, was working alone in a poultry shed at Bell Mount Farming Limited, Great Salkeld, when his clothes were caught by the rotating sprocket of a hen-feeding system on 11 January 2023.

The system ran for only three minutes at set intervals, but during one of those cycles the unguarded mechanism fatally strangled the experienced farmworker.

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the machine’s guard, intended to prevent access to dangerous moving parts, had not been fixed in place.

Bolt holes were stripped and did not line up with the frame, meaning the guard could simply be lifted off and could not be secured.

Alban Watts © HSE

Following the company’s guilty plea to breaching Regulation 11(1)(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER), Bell Mount Farming, of Stainton, Penrith, was fined £50,000 with £6,038 costs at Warrington Magistrates’ Court on 20 November.

Mr Watts’ brother Martin and sister Louise Robinson, said the loss had left them devastated. “Losing Alban has taken a part of our trio, without him we are an incomplete unit,” they said.

“We are angry that his life was worth less than a 50p screw to a multimillion-pound company. Such a small item could have saved his life.”

‘Lessons must be learned’

His mother, Noreen, described her son as a skilled mechanic, joiner and carpenter, calling his death “cruel”.

She said: “Above all, I want lessons to be learned from this tragedy. Due to the lack of a machine guard, my dear son Alban has been killed and taken from me.”

HSE inspector Matthew Shepherd said the company’s failure was “such a basic and simple one”.

He added: “Preventing access to dangerous parts of machinery is a well-known and long-standing part of any health and safety management system.

“We will not hesitate to take action against companies which do not do all that they should to keep people safe.”

The HSE said the case is a stark reminder to all farm businesses of the critical importance of ensuring machinery is adequately and complying fully with PUWER requirements.