Vermont Capitol Ltd has been fined £2,000 and ordered to pay court fees after pleading guilty to a breach of the CDM regulations.

The firm admitted that it had failed to ensure that mains electricity supply had been disconnected to a construction site, but had informed the site foreman that it had.

A 22-year-old labourer, asked to remove old pipes and cables from the cellar of a buidling site on Shaw Street in Liverpool, cut into the live mains cable with an angle grinder. The incident happened on 02 August 2013.

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The labourer was blown across the room, with Liverpool Magistrates’ Court hearing that he was lucky to survive the cutting into what he was told was a disconnected cable.

The HSE said that is it "vital that developers take the risks seriously from gas pipes and electricity cables and get written confirmation that supplies have been disconnected before starting work. Otherwise lives will continue to be put at risk."

(MH/CD)