Health and Safety for the Grouse Season

The accident appeared to have occurred when the flanker was moving into position, he wasn’t wearing his safety glasses and the gun in the end butt shot before the drive had officially started.

According to the press, the prosecution was on the basis that the health and safety risk assessment was inadequate and that measures should have been identified and implemented that would prevent the flanker being exposed.

Andrew Green, Managing Director of Green’s of Haddington, advises all managers and gamekeepers on grouse moors to do the following:

• Provide written and verbal instructions to the guns that they must not shoot until the drive has started;
• Guns must take note of the location of their neighbours and of the flankers (for the end butts);
• Flankers must put on their safety glasses before they move into position and must ensure as best they can that the guns have seen them by waving their flags;
• The drive can only start when everyone is in position;
• A signal such as a horn would alert the guns that the drive had started; and
• Review their risk assessments and ensure that these measures have been addressed.

Green’s of Haddington Ltd provide specialist Health and Safety advice to a broad range of businesses including large agricultural and sporting estates.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Andrew Green, Gillian McLean or Sam Gray at Green’s of Haddington Ltd.