A construction company and its groundworks contractor have been fined after unsafe excavation work left a worker with serious burns to his hand and arm.
High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard that, on the 2 August 2018, a groundworker was preparing the ground to install a post to carry an Automatic Number Plate Recognition Camera (ANPRC), at Twyford near Reading, Berkshire.
Initially, the worker dug hand, however, due to the ground conditions and numerous hedgerow roots he started to use an 110V mechanical electric breaker.
The incident occurred when the groundworker struck a power cable supplying an adjacent British Telecommunications building. The voltage of the cable was 415v causing the ground worker to receive an electric shock that caused burns to one hand and to his opposite arm.