Bristol City Council has been fined £20,000 after a park keeper suffered injuries while carrying out maintenance work.

The council was also ordered to pay £4,700 in court costs.

The 51 year old woman broke her pelvis and badly damaged her achilles tendon after she was thrown off of a tractor while carrying out work in Netham Park.

The park keeper braked as the tractor descended a slope, however the vehicle skidded after she swerved to avoid a fence and overturned, throwing her from the seat.


An HSE investigation found the tractor was not fitted with any restraints and the employee had received inadequate training to operate the machine.

The investigation also identified no supplier training had been given due to the vehicle being acquired outside the normal procurement procedure.

The council admitted to breaching two regulations of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

A HSE Inspector said: "This incident was entirely preventable and has caused the worker considerable suffering and distress.

"Every year, there are accidents involving transport in the workplace, some of which result in people being injured or even killed."

(LM/CD)