A company has been fined £400,000 after an 8-year-old girl suffered serious crush injuries when a tree fell on her.
The girl was out for an evening jog with her father. As she was running on a pavement outside the entrance to the care home, a lime tree fell on her, causing injuries that resulted in her having her leg amputated.
It was subsequently discovered that the tree was diseased with a common fungus and had likely been rotting for several years before the accident. HSE’s investigation found that the company had failed to have a strategy in place to manage trees.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that, over a number of years, the company had failed to have in place a strategy to manage trees, including adequate risk assessment, proactive surveys, inspections, and monitoring of trees, to identify where remedial work may have been required to prevent risk of the tree falling.
The HSE website has guidance on managing the risk from falling trees.