A UK Court has fined a Council contractor after one of its subcontract employees was severely burned from a shock in May 2015.
The 61-year-old man was trying to replace a traffic light pole when he came into contact with a live underground cable, which immediately "gave him the electric shock and set him on fire," according to a release from the UK Health and Safety Executive. He received burns to his to hands, arms, stomach, face, legs and chest.
Amey LG Limited, the company who hired the subcontracting company, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 25 (4) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £15,498.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that this was the first time this particular group of individuals worked on an Amey project, and Amey did not provide adequate information on the location of underground services in the area. The inquiry also found that Amey’s supervision of the work was not adequate, and it had not properly managed the risks from the underground services.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety.
