James Lyth, 34, was left with severe injuries while installing a 20-foot Christmas tree in Bury, Greater Manchester – the local council has now been slapped with a huge fine
A council was hit with £200,000 in fines after a workman was left needing a wheelchair after he tried to install a town’s Christmas tree. James Lyth, 34, was using a scissor lift but suffered severe injuries after the freak accident in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Disaster struck after the 34-year-old attempted to straighten the 20-foot tall Christmas tree but it plummeted while the workman was still in the lift’s basket. Bury Council was slapped with the huge fine after Lyth suffered a concussion and severe injuries to the right side of his body, including bruising to his ribs, from the horror incident on November 21, 2022.
The operations manager was left using a wheelchair and crutches after enduring a huge cut to his leg and was forced to take two months off work after the Christmas tree disaster. Lyth was then only able to carry out restricted hours and duties after making a comeback to work, as he recovered.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Bury Council had failed to provide Lyth with any training on how to safely operate a scissor lift, and had failed to carry out a sufficient risk assessment.
Investigators also discovered an assessment would have pointed out the dangers of that job and the risk of using of a scissor lift.
The council pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. The authority was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs at the hearing.
HSE inspector Leanne Ratcliffe slammed the council for the «very serious incident». Ratcliffe said: «It is important for industry to understand the importance of a risk assessment and training when using elevated platforms.
“Access to these platforms should be limited to those trained and anyone who isn’t trained shouldn’t be allowed to use them. If this sort of work is not planned and controlled to a high degree, then there is a very high likelihood of a potentially fatal fall, or one resulting in very serious injury.”
A Bury Council spokesperson called the horror disaster a «distressing and unfortunate incident» that «caused injury to one of our employees and was upsetting to passing shoppers».
The local authority revealed it carried out a review after the incident.
The statement added: “The lessons learned from this event have been addressed at the most senior levels to ensure that there is no repeat of this one-off incident.”
Bury Council has not been the only local authority to face huge fines following a severe tree incident. Father-of-one Chris Hall was killed by a falling tree limb while walking his dog in a public park in August 2020.
The 48-year-old suffered fatal injuries when he was hit while on a path in The Carrs, a woodland area in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
The Cheshire East Council was hit with a £500,000 fine after the shocking death.
