A coroner has asked the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to explain how it intends to prevent fatal accidents while unloading hay bales from lorries after a driver was fatally crushed in Cheshire.

Senior Coroner Jacqueline Devonish said the inquest into the death of lorry driver Tony Williams had raised concerns that if action was not taken there could be a higher death toll.

Williams, 45, had driven from Suffolk to deliver 33 bales before reversing along a public road with a 4.5-degree gradient, comparable to a wheelchair ramp.

One of the farm workers then saw Williams untying the load when three bales, loaded across and in the opposite direction to the rest of the shipment, fell out the back.

A farm worker used a telehandler to remove two bales that had fallen on Williams and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until an ambulance arrived. However, despite additional measures by paramedics, Williams was pronounced dead at the scene on December 2, 2020.

Devonish said the HSE had undertaken laser measurements and imaging identifying the centre of gravity and hazards associated with unloading protruding bales on a slope when the rearmost bales are loaded crosswise.

It found the accident would not have occurred had Williams not unloaded the truck so that its rear overhang was pointing down the slope.

The coroner said: “During the course of the inquest my enquiries revealed a number of concerns and in my view there is a risk that further deaths may occur if action is not taken.

“It became apparent that there were no clear illustrations in the information and support material produced by the HSE to assist drivers loading and unloading bales.”

Devonish added that the HSE must respond within 56 days, explaining what action will be taken.