A specialist piling contractor has been prosecuted after it was found to be operating machinery without a safety guard.

Southern Piling, of The Pagets, Newick, Lewes, East Sussex, pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation 11(1)(a) of PUWER 1998 and Regulation 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

It was fined £16,000 with nearly £5,000 in costs.

Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court heard how Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Melvyn Stancliffe made an inspection of a site in Maidstone, Kent, in December 2014.

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During his visit, Mr Stancliffe witnessed a piling rig in operation without a safety guard.

HSE had previously visited three sites where the company had been carrying out work and had raised concerns about the guarding standards on each occasion.

After the latest visit, HSE was told the machine had been in use for at least two-and-a-half weeks without the guard.

Speaking after the hearing, inspector Stancliffe said: "There was simply no excuse for the way the machine was being used. It was in the middle of the site and there was nothing to prevent the guard from being fitted.

"I dread to think, even at low speed, what might have happened had someone inadvertently fallen on to the unguarded auger. This is incredibly powerful machinery, capable of causing life-changing or even fatal injuries."

(LM/CD)