A landscaping services company has been prosecuted after a retaining wall fell on top of an employee during work at a property in County Durham.

Award Winning Greenfingers Limited, of Saltwell View, Gateshead, has been fined £20,000 with over £1,048 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 19 (1) of The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £220.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court heard how the company was undertaking groundworks to install a new timber retaining structure in the rear garden of a property at Beamish on 07 November 2016.

-- Advertisement --

An employee of Award Winning Greenfingers was excavating a trench in front of an existing blockwork wall when a section of the wall collapsed and fell onto him, trapping him underneath. He sustained serious injuries. including a complex fracture to his pelvis. which required surgery. He has not been able to return to work since the incident.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company failed to properly plan and manage the installation of the timber structure, and had not put sufficient control measures in place to prevent the collapse of the existing blockwork wall.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Cain Mitchell said: "This case highlights the dangers of undermining a freestanding wall by excavating alongside the structure without appropriate planning and the necessary precautions in place.

"If the company had implemented reasonably practicable measures that minimised the risk to persons working next to such structures this incident could easily have been avoided."

(LM/LM)