Lincolnshire farmer fined over death of Asta Juodiene
A farmer has been fined £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death by a reversing trailer pulled by a tractor.
Asta Juodiene, 46, died shortly before she started work planting sprouts in Leverton near Boston, Lincolnshire.
An investigation ruled that M Baker Produce Ltd did not carry out a written risk assessment or devise a safe procedure for reversing a vehicle.
The firm was fined after admitting health and safety breaches and ordered to pay £18,477 costs.
The married mum of two, originally from Lithuania, got her foot caught under a rear wheel as the tractor reversed towards a planting machine while pulling a trailer.
Lack of communication
Paramedics were called to the field but Ms Juodiene died at the scene from head and chest injuries.
The Health and Safety Executive investigation found the company had not provided enough information to workers and that there was a lack of communication between drivers and other staff in the field.
The company no longer carries out the manoeuvre which resulted in Ms Juodiene's death, the HSE said.
In a statement released after the hearing at Lincoln Crown Court, Mrs Juodiene's daughter, Samanta Augulyte, said: "It is nearly two years without our mother in our lives but a day does not pass without us thinking of her.
"The most difficult thing is to explain to my five-year-old son why his grandmother is not able to call or visit any more."