Farmer's fatal quad bike crash examined by HSE

Senior News Reporter

Friday 21 September 2012

A FREAK quad bike accident that claimed the life of a farmer is to be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive.

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Alison Campsie

Alan Frame, 41, died after becoming trapped under his quad bike on marshland at Bonnington Farm, Lanark, on Monday.

The employee of major agricultural firm Lawrie & Symington was described yesterday by a friend as a "right decent chap".

Johnny Class said he had been called to recover the bike after the accident.He posted on the British Farming Forum: "The thing that shocked us was how easy the accident looks to have happened. It looks to us that feed blocks strapped on the carriers made the bike unstable. "I'm posting this in the hope it will make us think twice about bike safety."Quad bikes have become a staple of farming life and are used to carry out various tasks.An intensive round of inspections of 58 farms in Scotland was carried out by the HSE two years ago following a number of accidents. It found that two- thirds were not using All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), such as quad bikes, safely.Inspectors issued 36 improvement notices, including 25 for using ATVs without appropriate training, 10 for a lack of suitable head protection and one for poor maintenance.The NFU has called on farm workers to wear helmets when using the bikes, with head injuries the main cause of death.It is not clear at this stage whether Mr Frame, who had worked with Lawrie and Symington for 26 years, was wearing a helmet at the time of his fatal crash.A Strathclyde Police spokesman said: "A 41-year-old man was riding a quad bike on marshland at Bonnington Farm, Lanark, when it overturned, trapping him beneath. He died at the scene. "A post-mortem will take place to establish the cause of death, but there would appear to be no suspicious circumstances."

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Farmer's fatal quad bike crash examined by HSE

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