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  Cesare Harradine August 13, 2010 at 9:04pm

  When ever a member of the public comes within range of my mower, I always stop and power down the mower. However, there have been countless occasions when I've been cutting grass, a mum out with her child will stop to watch. They can stand there for five minutes or more waiting for me to start again before they realise that I've stopped for their safety and move on. I've even had one parent try to put her toddler on my tractor!
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  Geoff Norfolk August 14, 2010 at 10:30am

  Very sad and unfortunate for the poor lad........... unfortunately, accidents happen and you can take every precaution and still things can happen. As well as parks, grass verges have to be cut and strimmed........ someone is going to get injured from a stone there one day rather than just a car window getting smashed but you can't shut off the street when you're cutting! As we know, stones can fly a really long way at vast speed and it really is incredibly bad luck if you're hit in the eye.
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  HM GARDENS August 14, 2010 at 12:09pm

  This has really made me think after what happend with my strimmer and a door window this week.
• PRO

  Phil Voice August 14, 2010 at 12:38pm

  This is not only a tragedy for this poor boy and his family but also for the operator of the machine and the company he or she worked for - it's a desperately unlucky experience to have to learn from.
  
  Working in public spaces such as parks or children's play areas is a health and safety headache.
  
  My company ran the contract for Petersfield Town Council from 2000-2009. I was in charge from 2000-2004 and I can think of numerous occasions, especially during the busy summer months, where we had to work in close proximity to sunbathing, picnicking and families playing.
  
  Without speculating the findings of any enquiry or prejudging if anyone's to blame, I've got first hand experience of conditions in which contractors have to operate. It's not easy to keep stop-start machines, put up signs during every operation and it is expensive to employ a 'banksman' to clear a path.
  
  There were times when playing fields and recreation areas would be humming with activity and some people refused to move out of the way.
  
  It's going to be interesting how the Health and Safety Executive deal with this.
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  Cesare Harradine August 15, 2010 at 12:15pm

  This is not a comment on this sad and unfortunate accident, but a more general observation.
  
  We all have a responsability to work as safely as possable. However, I believe that in this cotton wool world, the general public have become de-sensitised to potential dangers. Individuals seem to have very little sense of responsiblity for their own safety. There seemes to be a belief that unless some phisically prevents you from doing something, then it's safe. You only need to look at the "it can't be bad for you, otherwise the government would have banned it" attitude towards these so called legal highs.
• PRO

  Gary RK August 16, 2010 at 9:13pm

  You're right in that there is no legal distance, but all current machines dictate on H&S stickers and in handbooks a minimum safe operating distance. I would expect HSE to take this 'advice' as almost a legal distance in case of an incident
  
  It's a difficult situation, the 'public' is often not rational, tends to ignore warnings etc. So what do you do ?, close down a whole Park to cut the grass, try to rope off areas etc etc.
  
  I think we all have to make decisions based upon a real-time risk assessments. 99% of the time, we get them right. Unfortunately it's the 1% are what makes the headlines and brings in additional HS rules etc and discussions such as this.
  
  That's good because it raises the profile of the issue and will hopefully help reduce that 1% down to zero...
• PRO

  Phil Voice August 19, 2010 at 9:26am

  Dog Faeces is another major health and safety risk for machine operators (especially strimmer).
  
  'Eye threat to Manchester toddler who fell in dog mess'
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11012044
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  Steven Whitaker August 19, 2010 at 2:17pm

  I must admit I didn't realise how dangerous dog faeces is. I have a couple of customers who have dogs who "do" on the lawn and I end up treading in it or strimming it!
  
  
  Philip Voice said:

  Dog Faeces is another major health and safety risk for machine operators (especially strimmer).
  
  'Eye threat to Manchester toddler who fell in dog mess'
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11012044
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  Cesare Harradine August 19, 2010 at 6:45pm

  I always take a quick look, if for no other reason that blades are expencive. However, its the small stones you can't see that tend to squeeze under the mower deck and cause the damage.
  
  Andrew Bentley said:

  This was a terrible event and highlights one of the dangers we are all at risk from.
  
  I wonder how many people on this site bother to conduct a quick assessment of the vegetation - be it grass or scrub etc - that is to be cut before actually starting up their machines? Even on pretty short grass on a formal lawn I will have at least a quick 'walkover' to check for stones, rabbit scrapes, hollows etc. I often see council operators just offload their big ride-on mowers and immediatley begin cutting without any idea what might be in the grass......
  
  How do people feel about this? Overkill....too much hassle.....not really needed.....the client wouldn't want to be charged for the time....etc?