Industry news
Worker burned from electric shock
Posted Wed, 11 Jul 2012
A worker suffered burns to his chest and hands after receiving an electric shock while carrying out fencing work at a children's play area, magistrates heard.
The man was hitting metal pins into soft ground to secure temporary fencing at the Shaw Ridge Play Park in Swindon when one of them made contact with a high voltage underground electric cable.
The agency employee was working for Swindon Commercial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swindon Borough Council, when the incident happened at the renovation project in April 2010.
The firm, of Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, admitted breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 in a hearing at Swindon Magistrates' Court brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The court heard an HSE investigation found Swindon Commercial Services failed to provide cable avoidance tools to find and mark underground services or refer to utility company plans. It also failed to properly plan the work and didn't carry out an appropriate risk assessment. Magistrates fined the company £12,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £4,403.
Copyright Press Association 2012