A farmer from Co Tyrone has been fined for failing to maintain safe conditions on his farm after a 14-year-old worker was found unconscious in a tractor that was mixing slurry inside a farm building.

Mr Charles Elkin was fined at Dungannon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 31 October after pleading guilty.

The teenager had been asked to stay in the tractor while the slurry was being mixed and to switch the tractor off if it started to overheat.

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HSENI Inspector Anne Cassidy, said: "Too many fatal incidents have occurred over recent years involving slurry mixing. Following the slurry mixing code can prevent accidents and save lives. Once mixing starts everyone should get out and stay out for at least 30 minutes.

"In this case the farmer failed to follow the accepted advice, placing a young and inexperienced employee at significant risk from exposure to the potentially deadly gas produced during mixing. This incident was easily preventable."

(CD/LM)