A coroner has said the fatal accident which resulted in the death of a Derrylin farmer highlighted “the dangers that can be associated with farming”.

Coroner Louisa Fee gave her findings at the inquest of 77-year-old Norman Foster, who died on December 23, 2021, when a bale fell on him as he was attempting to remove pallets.

The inquest heard Mr. Foster had been found lying between two large square bales which had fallen from the four-high stack in a shed used to store round and square bales and some loose animal meal.

Mrs. Fee found that from all the evidence given at the inquest, Mr. Foster died as a result of chest and abdominal injuries.

Jeffrey Foster, son of the deceased, gave evidence to the inquest.

He said that on December 23, he had finished milking cows on his farm at Rock Road, Derrylin and was going towards his house when he noticed the deceased’s pick-up and tractor in the farmyard.

As it was late for the deceased to still be at the farm, he contacted his mother, who confirmed that his father had not yet returned home.

The inquest heard Mr. Foster immediately called out for the deceased, before driving down to the yard.

He found the deceased lying in the shed between straw bales, and confirmed that he was not lying under a bale.

He checked for a pulse, and when he couldn’t find one, he contacted the ambulance service at 7.06pm.

The ambulance service and police arrived shortly after and confirmed the death of the deceased.

Mr. Foster told the inquest that there was no artificial light in the shed, and that it is used to store round and square bales along with animal feedstuff.

He described the square bales to measure eight feet in length by four feet in width and depth, weighing 600kg.

The bales are stored in parallel rows and each row is four bales in height, resting on wooden pallets.

He said that he had been in the shed on December 22 when he had cleared the two wooden pallets adjacent to the felled bales, of their load.

It was his view that the deceased had lifted one of these empty pallets and placed it upright.

When the deceased attempted to move the second pallet, he caused the three upper bales in the adjacent stack to fall.

Mr. Foster said that the top bale was lying in such a manner, with a particular distribution of straw, that led him to believe that this bale had struck the deceased and effectively rolled off him to come to its final position.

Ian McCullough, an Inspector in the construction sector for Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, also gave evidence to the inquest.

Mr. McCullough said that Jeffrey Foster told him that he had noticed a pallet sitting upright close to the collapsed bales, and that the bottom bale was slightly tilted.

Mr. Foster also told him that he had lifted the last bale from the front of the collapsed stack on December 22, 2021, clearing two pallets of most of their load.

Mr. McCullough was of the view that the pallet sitting at an angle under the third bale corresponded with Mr. Foster’s explanation. Mr. McCullough told the inquest that in his view, the top bale had struck the deceased and rotated, therefore not resting on the deceased.

In her findings, Mrs. Fee said she accepted the evidence of Mr. Foster that square bales within the shed were stored in stacks, four bales in height, on wooden pallets.

“I accept that Mr. Foster had cleared two of these wooden pallets of their load on December 22, 2021, leaving the two pallets lying on the floor beside the bale stacks.

“I find, on the balance of probabilities, that the deceased attempted to remove these two wooden pallets.

“I pause to note that it is likely that he did so in the dark.

“I find that he lifted one pallet and set it upright beside the stack of bales.

“However, the second pallet had a section of the next bale stack resting on it, and when the deceased attempted to move it, I find it caused the bale stack to collapse and fell the top three bales.

“I find that the deceased was knocked to the ground by the top bale, resulting in him suffering a severe blunt force trauma, and sustaining significant injury to his chest, abdomen and left leg.”

Mrs. Fee continued: “This fatal accident unfortunately highlights the dangers that can be associated with farming.

“I accept the evidence of Mr. McCullough that this was an unusual incident, as bales of this weight and size cannot be manually handled, and therefore close proximity to them would not normally be anticipated.”