Woeful failings led to death of man using chainsaw at golf club
AGOLF club has been ordered to pay £150,000 in fines and costs after a course manager suffered a fatal injury while using a chainsaw.
Dougie Johnstone was hit by the branch of an already collapsed poplar tree as he used the chainsaw without a safety helmet.
At Leicester Crown Court, Judge Martin Hurst said the accident happened against a background of “a systemic failure to deal with health and safety” at Hinckley Golf Club.
But he pointed out the club had since taken “substantial steps” to voluntarily improve its health and safety arrangements. “The other side of the coin is that the steps now taken demonstrate the woeful state of health and safety before,” he said.
During an 11-day trial in May, the jury was told that Mr Johnstone was not qualified to use the motorised saw, although club officials believed he was, according to his job application. He had exaggerated his credentials, the court heard.
Mr Johnstone was carrying out the chainsaw work unaccompanied, after other ground workers had gone home for the day.
The 56-year-old died alone and his body was found beside the tree, near the 14th hole, the following morning, on December 28, 2013.
The jury took seven-and-a-half hours of deliberations to find the Leicestershire golf club guilty of three health and safety offences between January and December 2013.
Hinckley Golf Club was a “highly regarded local institution” with no previous health and safety convictions, the Judge noted as he accepted a submission from defence counsel James Maxwell-Scott QC that any financial penalties should not affect the future of the 18-hole club. But he criticised it for not making calls to confirm Mr Johnstone’s qualifications and experience with his two previous employers at Wentworth and Pinner golf courses. During the trial, Timothy Raggatt QC, prosecuting for Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, said Mr Johnstone had been course manager since May 2011.
“He died in what we suggest were preventable circumstances,” he said. “There’s no suggestion anyone want- ed, or anticipated, happen.”
If it had been Mr Johnstone’s decision to work alone and without safety equipment, there were obligations on employers to protect employees, even against themselves.
The defence argued the club took reasonable health and safety steps, although officials had accepted, on face value, Mr Johnstone’s assertion he was chainsaw-trained.
The golf club was fined £75,000, with £75,000 costs, and has been given three years to pay
Hinckley Golf Club chairman Barry Ayre said: “We express our regret at the death of Dougie Johnstone, and, of course, our sympathies go out to his family and friends. We accept the sentence of the judge and we are now looking to move forward from this tragedy.” the death would