A DRAINAGE company has been hit with a £60,000 fine after a worker was seriously injured when an unsafe excavation collapsed during work to lay new pipes outside a home.

Michael Simpkins, now 42, from Oxshott in Surrey, sustained multiple fractures to his left leg in the incident at a property in Bridge near Canterbury on April 7, 2011. He was unable to work for six weeks before later resigning because of recurring pain and psychological trauma.

His employer UKDN Waterflow Limited, previously of Waterside Drive, Langley, Slough, and now in administration and called UWIC Realisations Limited and then called The UK Drainage Network Limited, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the excavation pit was missing vital shoring.

Folkestone Magistrate's Court heard the injured worker was cutting and cleaning a pipe for rejoining at a depth in excess of 2m when a side of the pit suddenly gave way, creating a slip of soil and debris.

The lower half of his body was completely buried, with the weight of the material buckling his leg as it crashed down. He was dug out by a colleague and taken to hospital.

HSE established that there was nothing in place to support the excavation and prevent the collapse, despite HSE saying it is a clear and common risk for this kind of work. There was also no evidence of suitable planning or supervision.

Magistrates were told in February 2011, just weeks before the Bridge collapse, HSE received a complaint about another UKDN excavation that suffered a partial collapse in which there were no injuries.

UKDN Waterflow Limited was fined a total of £60,000 and ordered to pay a further £39,506 in costs after failing to attend court and being found guilty of three separate breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

After the hearing, Nicola Wellard, a HSE inspector, said: “As a company specialising in laying water pipes and drainage systems, you would expect UKDN Waterflow Limited to be acutely aware of the dangers posed by unsupported excavations.

“It is, after all, an intrinsic part of what they do, and we established that shoring was used in some other projects managed by the firm. It makes the failings we found in the collapse all the more baffling, as it should have been abundantly clear that the provision and use of shoring was a basic necessity.

“Sadly there was nothing in place and an employee sustained a painful, debilitating injury that has had lasting consequences."