This Is Guernsey

By Juliet Pouteaux

A FARMER was left fighting for his life after a bale of hay fell on him from his tractor. Roy Burton, 78, suffered a crushed vertebra, broken ribs and a punctured lung in the incident.

‘I’d been cutting off weeds,’ said Mr Burton (pictured). ‘I had all I needed, so I bound the hay. I’d roped it on, and reversed to the door. Then the tractor just went mad and the bale went up in the air.’

‘I heard my back go. The pain was dreadful.’

His wife, Brenda, came running as soon as she heard Mr Burton screaming.

‘I could hear him shouting,’ she said. ‘He had managed to get himself off the tractor, and onto the steering. I waited with him until the ambulance came all clanging.’

Mr Burton remained conscious throughout the experience, despite his injuries.

‘He kept talking to us but the first four days in hospital were really worrying,’ said Mrs Burton.

As Mr Burton was awake, he was aware of the staff talking around him.

‘I actually heard one of the nurses say “we’ll have to get in quick or we’ll lose this one”,’ he said.

Mr Burton spent four days in ICU and a further three weeks in hospital.

He has been told to stay off his feet for six months, but that is proving challenging.

‘It will take a little while before I can work,’ said Mr Burton. ‘But I’m hoping to soon.

‘I see the sunny weather and the work that should be done and I can’t do it. However, friends and family are helping to pull their weight.’

The case has highlighted the need to ensure farm machinery is properly maintained, said chief Health and Safety Officer Richard Brown.

‘Certain ancillary equipment fitted to tractors requires regular examination by a competent person. Farm machinery, in exactly the same way as any equipment provided for use by an employer, is bound by the provisions. A competent person must ensure the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as a reasonable practice, safe and without risks to health.’

The department does check on farmyards as they constitute a place of work.

Mr Burton said he did his own basic maintenance.

‘We only service them with a change of oil and such,’ said Mr Burton. ‘We don’t check them.’

Mr Burton has owned his farm at St Andrew’s since 1952, and has suffered a fair few injuries in that time.

He has suffered broken ribs and a fractured skull previously, as well as some nasty bruising after being swung around by a bull.

‘I’m like a cat with nine lives, but I don’t really want any more accidents like this.’

Article posted on 4th September, 2008 - 2.30pm