A livestock auction mart has been fined after an employee was fatally injured when he was struck by a dairy bull he was helping to load it on to a lorry.
Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that on 25 August 2017, the employee was helping to move a bull and four cows towards a waiting lorry at the premises of his employer Gisburn Auction Marts Ltd.
Whilst trying to load the livestock into the lorry, the bull turned and attacked the employee, causing fatal injuries.
An Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that there weren’t any suitable refuges or barriers within the loading area for those handling the livestock to shelter behind, if for example, cattle became fractious.
Gisburn Auction Marts, of Gisburn, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
The company was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of over £8,800.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Anthony Banks said the incident "could easily have been prevented".
"The bull was able to strike the employee because he had been unable to outrun or out manoeuvre the bull," he said.
"He was unable to seek protection from any form of refuge or barrier when it began to charge.
"The company should have undertaken a suitable and sufficient risk assessment to identify, and put in place, the appropriate control measures.”
