A 'dedicated' Northumberland animal lover who lived for the goats in her care died in a horrific farm accident after her employers failed to protect her.
Janet McDonald, 53, had worked at the Yorkshire Dairy Goats farm for 30 years, Hull Live reports. On August 1, 2018, she died after being struck by a reversing telehandler, a forklift-like piece of farm machinery.
Her employer, based at St Helen's Farm, Seaton Ross, in East Yorkshire, this month admitted failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees from risks caused by the machine. The company is due to be sentenced at Hull Crown Court.
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As he awaits the sentence, Janet's brother, George McDonald, has paid tribute to his much-loved younger sister. The youngest of four siblings, Janet was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, and went on to live on a farm in Widdrington.
George 68, from Newcastle, said: "Her father used to work on a farm and that's where she got her love of animals. She moved down to Wales when she left school and that's where she met the owners of the farm. She got a job with them.
"She moved up to Seaton Ross with them and worked there for 30 years. She lived on the farm in a caravan. She loved all the goats and made sure they were all in tiptop condition.
"She looked after them, especially the new-born ones. She loved it. She was dedicated to it. She made sure the goats were all right. She was very dedicated to the goats. She had two dogs and a horse as well. She had her own horse, Jet, that was kept on the farm."
Janet was close to her family in the North East, including her sisters, Nancy, Elizabeth and Jean, and had hoped to retire to Ulgham, Northumberland. George said Janet was particularly close to Elizabeth, who she would speak to every night. Elizabeth, who had terminal cancer at the time, died two years ago, and is buried in the village.
"[Janet] already had big plans for her retirement and was going to move to the village," said George. "That's where she was going to move to with her horse and dogs when she retired. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen.
"She is a big loss. She was going to move up here. She would always be on the phone."
The philanthropic 53-year-old also did a lot of work for charity Riding for the Disabled.
George added: "She was always easy to talk to and always got on with everyone she worked with. She was dedicated to her work and her animals. She rode her horse and volunteered and took her dogs out. One of her dogs always came with her. She was never married but she loved her animals."
George said he had attended an inquest in Hull into Janet's death when a conclusion of accidental death was given. He said there had been very little contact from the company, although some representatives did attend the funeral.
Janet was working at the goat farm at about 9am on August 1, 2018 when she was hit by the reversing telehandler. She was airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary but died just after 1pm.
During the court hearing, Robert Stevenson, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said that the company kept more than 3,500 goats for use in the production of a variety of dairy products.
The telehandler was being operated by a worker who was mucking out a goat pen in one of the nine sheds. Janet is thought to have entered the shed from one of the entrances and was behind the telehandler as it reversed out of a pen during the mucking out process.
Mr Stevenson said: "Janet McDonald was struck by the telehandler as it reversed. The telehandler has a flashing light and emits a loud beeping noise when reversing. However, the site is busy and noisy generally. There are, for example, other telehandlers and machinery in operation on the site.
"As Janet McDonald lay gravely injured, once she had been struck, she said that she thought the telehandler had been driving forwards, which indicates that she had seen it moving forwards at some point shortly before the incident but believed it to be okay that she should pass behind it.
"There were no clear rules, effective barriers or other measures in place to prevent any pedestrians from entering the same area as a moving telehandler throughout the site."
He said a "suitable and sufficient risk assessment" should have been used to identify ways to keep pedestrians and vehicles apart but that, at the time of the incident, no such systems were in place.
Pedestrian access was not restricted while farm vehicles, including three telehandlers, a tractor and a trailer, were moving freely about, including reversing.
"There was nothing to prevent a pedestrian from walking into an area where a telehandler or other machine was working," said Mr Stevenson.
"There were no signs or physical barriers to warn pedestrians that the mucking out was taking place or to prevent them from accessing the area in which the telehandler was operating. Mucking out was clearly hazardous because the telehandler needed to reverse in and out of the sheds, with poor visibility due to the tight operating conditions and blind corners."
The court heard that, since the incident, the company made significant improvements to its working practices.
David Whittaker QC, mitigating, said that the company's culpability was less than that claimed by the prosecution because some procedures were in place at the farm already as well as practical training.
