HSE Farm Safety chief urges Farmers to wear a helmet on quad bikes

The call comes after a farm worker, aged 17, was trapped under a quad bike for an hour with a wound that later needed 17 stitches.

JF & M Bland had contracted the worker for general agricultural duties. He was told to use a quad bike to travel to one of the farm’s fields. He did so without undertaking any training and with no helmet provided for him to wear. The vehicle overturned and it was an hour before one of the partners of the company found him.

After investigating the, HSE decided to prosecute JF & M Bland, for breaches of health and safety laws. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,693.

ATV safety

An ATV is considered to be “any motorised vehicle designed to travel on four low-pressure tyres on unpaved surfaces, with a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and with handlebars for steering control.” They are intended to be used by one person without a passenger.

Hazards:

• Getting thrown off when the ATV overturns or after loss of control;
• Colliding with structures, trees, other vehicles etc;
• Being trapped under an overturned machine;
• Pedestrians being hit by or run over by ATVs.

Causes of accidents and injury with ATVs can include:

• lack of formal training and/or experience;
• incorrect/lack of appropriate head protection;
• excessive speed;
• age of the operator;
• unbalanced loads or overloading;
• tipping on a bank, ditch, rut or bump;
• poor maintenance such as faulty brakes or incorrect tyre pressures

It is a legal requirement for employers to provide adequate training for employees who use work equipment such as ATVs, and to make sure that only employees who have received appropriate training in their safe use, including the use of any towed equipment or attachments, are permitted to ride them. The same requirements apply to the self-employed.

Sit-astride ATVs are not fitted with either a cab or roll bar, so your only protection is what you wear. Head protection is vital. Many ATV fatalities in the UK have been caused by head injuries. Helmets would certainly have prevented most of, if not all, these deaths. You should always wear a helmet when riding an ATV.