A Fife farming company received a fine of £20,000 recently after a serious and fatal injury to his right foot after in became trapped in a piece of machinery.

Peter Ednie worked for R Todd and Company in Fife. On the day of the accident he was trying to empty rain water from a grain pit. Mr  Ednie was standing inside the grain pit. There was a piece of machinery inside the grain pit that was used to collect the grain from the pit and transport it to other parts of the factory. Power to the piece of machinery in the grain pit had been switched off prior to Mr Ednie going in to the pit. Nearby Mr Todd was cleaning a grain drying bin. Mr Todd accidentally activated the piece of machinery in the grain pit where Mr Ednie was rather than the piece of machinery in the grain drying bin which he was working on. 

As the machinery in the grain pit began working Mr Ednies right foot became trapped. His small toes on his right foot was severed and his forth toe was severely injured. Mr Todd’s  injuries were so bad that he had to have surgery to have his fourth toes amputated. He still suffers symptoms of coldness and pain and finds it difficult to walk.

The Health and Safety Executive found that there was no risk assessment carried out on the job Mr Ednie was doing and had a suitable risk assessment been carried out and a safe system of work adopted by R Todd and Company then the accident could have been avoided.