A specialist electric engineering contractor has been prosecuted after a worker suffered crush injuries when a heavy electrical control panel fell on top of him.

Instrument and Control Services Ltd of Canal Lane, Stoke-on-Trent pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £60,000 with more than £2,923 in costs, along with a £120 Victim Surcharge.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court heard how an employee of the company was injured when a top heavy 650-750kg electrical control panel which he was moving fell and trapped him to the ground on 02 February 2016. The victim suffered life changing injuries, including a fracture that split the left and right side of his lower pelvis apart.

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A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company, which provides electrical engineering and refurbishment services, failed to properly assess the risks involved and to provide both a safe system of work and the proper instructions and training needed for moving the panel.

HSE inspector Marie-Louise Riley-Roberts said: "Those in control of work have a responsibility to assess risk and to devise safe methods of working which their employees should then be trained in.

"If Instrument and Control Services Ltd had ensured that their employees were following to a safe system of work, based upon proper planning, then the life changing injuries sustained by this worker could have been prevented."

(LM/MH)