A CLATWORTHY farmer who was “always on about safety” died after his clothing became entangled in an unguarded power-shaft linking a tractor and a baler while working in a field near Wiveliscombe, a Taunton inquest was told last Wednesday.
David Farrant, a 76-year-old bachelor, described by a friend as ‘happy-go-lucky’, suffered multiple traumatic injuries when his clothes became caught on the spinning bar shaft as he was working alone in a remote field at Jews Lane, Wiveliscombe , on October 2.
Senior Somerset coroner Tony Williams was told that it was estimated that the shaft was turning at around 180rpm and was thought to have spun Mr Farrant round, trapping him between the tractor and the baler and causing fatal injuries. He would not have had time to free himself.
A Health and Safety Executive report showed that the tractor and baler were in poor condition and the power take-off shaft was unguarded but would originally have been provided with a protective covering cowl.
Mr Farrant was found slumped over the machinery by a friend, Thomas Gill, who had come to help him on the land. In a statement to the inquest, Mr Gill said that he became worried when Mr Farrant did not turn up at the meeting-place.
“I grew increasingly concerned and drove around the farm looking for him.” Finding his friend trapped in the machinery, he called the emergency services, but the farmer was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Gill said he had known Mr Farrant for six years and described him as an eccentric and happy-go-lucky man who “made odd decisions on many occasions.” But Mr Gill added that “David was always on about safety because there had been a fatality at the farm 13 years ago.”
The inquest heard that the tractor engine was not running when Mr Farrant was discovered and it was assumed that his trapped body had caused it to stall.
Recording a conclusion of accidental death, Mr Williams said: “David Farrant became entangled in an unguarded power take-off shaft between his tractor and baler and sustained fatal injuries.”