A Barnstaple construction company has been fined for safety failings after a ground worker was seriously injured when he stumbled from an excavator and fell down a five metre bank at a construction site in Middle Marwood.

The 65-year-old, who does not want to be named, suffered three fractured vertebrae, broken ribs and sternum, lung damage and a head wound that required stitches in the incident at a cottage undergoing renovation on 6 October 2011.

He was in intensive care for three weeks, has yet to make a full recovery and is unlikely to work again.

Barnstaple Magistrates' Court heard that his employer, G Loosemore and Son Ltd, had been contracted to build a two-storey extension at the rear of a cottage.

The ground worker was engaged in excavation work on land that sloped steeply upwards. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that his excavator was working on a level of ground at approximately roof height with the cottage in order to dig out material to make way for a terrace area and exterior steps leading to upper garden levels.


He needed to change the excavator's bucket during the work, but as he exited the cab he stumbled. He tried to steady himself by grabbing hold of a handle attached to the lift arm, but it came away in his hand and he fell approximately five metres down a slope and onto the path behind the cottage. He hit his head on a large stone as he fell and was knocked unconscious.

HSE established that there was no edge protection to prevent a fall to the area behind the cottage, and no steps were taken to support the excavation prior to the later installation of a supporting wall. The investigation also identified that there had been several falls of material from the main excavation area before the worker fell. These should have served as a warning, but no action was taken.

A Prohibition Notice was subsequently served to prevent any further excavation work at the site until a competent person had made an assessment and provided a safe system of work.

G Loosemore & Son Ltd, of Roundswell Business Park, Barnstaple, Devon, was fined a total of £12,000 and ordered to pay £11,210 in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

(CD)