A company has been fined after a worker was left paralysed by a pipe when it fell into a trench he was working in.

Forefront Utilities Limited, of Stephenson Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, were found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £200,000 with £56,686 in costs.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how an employee of the firm, which specialises in gas infrastructure, was working to connect gas pipes in a trench in Rochester, Kent on 23 May 2014.

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The new pipes were rested on packing timber across the trench, but the weight caused the tarmac to give way.

The pipe fell into the trench and struck the worker, causing significant injury including a fractured spine. As a result, he is now paralysed and has no feeling in his bowel.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the method being used for jointing newly laid sections of pipe to previously laid pipe was unsafe.

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."

(HSE)