An Essex gas infrastructure firm has be fined £200,000 after a worker suffered life changing injuries when he was struck by a falling pipe whilst working in a trench.
“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”
Forefront Utilities Limited has been fined £200,000 and has been ordered to pay an additional £56,686 in costs after the accident, which saw one of its workers crushed by a pipe.
The company, of Stephenson Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how on 23 May 2014, the worker suffered life changing injuries in a trench in Rochester, Kent.
The court heard that the worker had entered the trench in order to replace and connect some gas pipes. The weight of the new pipes, which were resting on packing timber above the worker, cause the tarmac around the trench to give way. The pipe fell into the trench, striking the worker and caused significant injuries including a broken spine.
As of the time of publication, the worker is paralysed and has no feeling in his bowel.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found the method for jointing newly laid sections of pipe to previously laid pipe was unsafe.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Cousins said, “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of working.
“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”
There has been no comment forthcoming from Forefront Utilities Limited as of the time of publication.
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