AN ULVERSTON man died at work after suffering an injury similar to a ‘bullet wound’, an inquest heard.

Tony Robinson, a construction worker, of Lime Tree Road, was 36 when the tragedy happened on waste land he was helping to clear at Barrow Docks in February 2010.

The hearing at Barrow Town Hall was told Mr Robinson, who was described as ‘very professional’, was struck by a chain link from the head of a strimmer which flew at 300 mph and killed him instantly.

Dr Adam Padel, who carried out a post mortem, said: “My findings were somewhat extraordinary and very tragic. There was a single wound to the back of his neck, almost like a bullet wound, which was 10 centimetres deep.

“I was astonished to find a piece of metal sitting at the base of his skull and the top of his spinal column.”

The strimmer was being operated by site colleague Andrew Hankinson, of Cheshire.

The guidelines for the strimmer - a Stihl FS 450 model - recommends people remain 15 metres away from the machinery while it is being operated.

The inquest heard that the nature of the clearance meant it was impossible to set up this distance from other workers because they had to move around constantly.

Mr Hankinson was working on a banking above where Mr Robinson was clearing shrubbery and loading it into a wood chipper.

Mr Hankinson said being safety conscious was ‘second nature’ to him.

“I was 16 or 17 metres away from where Tony had fallen when I last used the strimmer,” he said.

David Charnock, Health and Safety Executive inspector, said the strimmer’s head attachment - a ‘chain flail’ made by a small Italian company - was not a suitable piece of kit.

“There were small fractures that had occurred over a period of time, which is why the link came loose,” he said. “The attachment was not appropriate for this type of machine and I have since seen that it has been taken off the market.”

“As soon as it became apparent what had caused the death we became aware of a similar device used in America, which had caused a fatality and several serious injuries, and another in Sweden which caused injuries.”

He said action was now being taken in the European Union to stop this attachment being used in any member country.

He stressed that Three Shires, the company contracted to clear the site, would have had no reason to believe the strimmer’s attachment was not suitable to use.

Summing up, south and east Cumbria coroner Ian Smith said: “It (the chain link) could have missed Mr Robinson, it could have hit him in the arm and he would have had a nasty injury, or it could have whizzed off in another direction. The chances of it hitting Mr Robinson in the way that it did must be very, very tiny, but it happened.”

The 11-strong jury returned a verdict of accidental death .