A construction site manager has been fined after a worker was injured while using an excavator bucket as a substitute mobile elevating work platform.

Edwin Heaney, 43, of How Wood, Park Street, Hertfordshire breached Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

He was fined £1,000 with £3,130 in costs.

St Albans Magistrates' Court heard how Mr Heaney used an excavator to elevate a worker to cut a piece of protruding steel on a building site in Loom Lane, Radlett, Hertfordshire.


Mr Heaney left the operator's cabin of the excavator, leaving the machine unattended while the employee used a handheld grinder.

The bucket suddenly jolted downwards and threw the worker off balance. He managed to throw the grinder clear and grabbed onto the adjacent wall to stop his fall.

A work colleague then provided a ladder to allow him to get down safely.

The victim suffered a number of strain injuries, particularly to his right shoulder.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Mr Heaney had failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others, the excavator was not suitable equipment for lifting the worker and the bucket attachment was an inadequate work platform.

(LM/CD)