A Lincolnshire farming business has been ordered to pay more than £200,000 in fines and costs after a farm manager was killed when he was hit by a forklift truck.

The farm manager was walking from his car across the yard to potato sheds when he was struck down by a forklift in October 2010. He died at the scene of the incident after being crushed by the vehicle.

His employer was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the company didn't have effective measures in place to allow vehicles and pedestrians to move around the site safely. The court was told a risk assessment carried out in 2003 highlighted the need for pedestrians and vehicles to be segregated, but the firm did not fully implement these findings.

Workers were allowed to park their cars in areas of the site, which meant they walked across the path of workplace vehicles when walking to, or from, their cars. Some workers used the same entrance to the grading shed as the forklift truck.

The farming business pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

HSE Inspector Neil Ward said: "Employees on foot were using the same doorway as the forklift truck, which meant there was a significant risk of them being struck.

"The company should have managed the yard so that people and vehicles were not sharing the same space. Sadly, he lost his life because this simple procedure wasn't in place"

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