A Barnstaple construction company has been fined for safety failings after a ground worker was seriously injured when he stumbled from an excavator and fell down a five metre bank at a construction site in Middle Marwood.

The 65-year-old, who does not want to be named, suffered three fractured vertebrae, broken ribs and sternum, lung damage and a head wound that required stitches in the incident at a cottage undergoing renovation on 6 October 2011.

He was in intensive care for three weeks, has yet to make a full recovery and is unlikely to work again.

Barnstaple Magistrates' Court heard that his employer, G Loosemore and Son Ltd, had been contracted to build a two-storey extension at the rear of a cottage.

The ground worker was engaged in excavation work on land that sloped steeply upwards. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that his excavator was working on a level of ground at approximately roof height with the cottage in order to dig out material to make way for a terrace area and exterior steps leading to upper garden levels.

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He needed to change the excavator's bucket during the work, but as he exited the cab he stumbled. He tried to steady himself by grabbing hold of a handle attached to the lift arm, but it came away in his hand and he fell approximately five metres down a slope and onto the path behind the cottage. He hit his head on a large stone as he fell and was knocked unconscious.

HSE established that there was no edge protection to prevent a fall to the area behind the cottage, and no steps were taken to support the excavation prior to the later installation of a supporting wall. The investigation also identified that there had been several falls of material from the main excavation area before the worker fell. These should have served as a warning, but no action was taken.

A Prohibition Notice was subsequently served to prevent any further excavation work at the site until a competent person had made an assessment and provided a safe system of work.

G Loosemore & Son Ltd, of Roundswell Business Park, Barnstaple, Devon, was fined a total of £12,000 and ordered to pay £11,210 in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

(CD)