A contractor was fined £750 with £750 costs last month (December) after a labourer drowned while building an extension at a house in Wembley, Brent.

The court heard that the 21-year-old labourer was working for Chris Byrne of Christchurch Avenue in Brent, who was contracted to build an extension to the property.

The labourer had limited knowledge of English. On his first day he was instructed by Byrne to fill earth around concrete blocks in an area next to the extension. Byrne removed a board covering a 1.74m excavation pit to show him that it had water in it. Byrne then left the labourer alone on-site, leaving the excavation pit unguarded. Later that day Byrne returned to find the labourer head first in the pit with water up to his waist. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

HSE Inspector Monica Babb, said: “The labourer had little experience and was left alone with an excavation pit that wasn’t properly guarded. His death was clearly avoidable as the risks of excavations and falling from height are well known.”

P J Carey (Contractors) Ltd of Wembley, Middlesex, were fined £54,000 with £100,000 costs last month (December) as a result of an employee being hit and killed by a reversing telehandler at a construction site in Aylesbury.

The court was told of the dangerous working environment in which the pedestrian route to the site was obstructed by rubbish skips, packs of bricks and two parked vans. In addition,it was stated that pedestrian crossing points were not clearly signed or marked.

Meldrum Construction Services Ltd from Gateshead were fined £4,500 with costs of £2,342 plus a victim surcharge of £15 this month (January) as the result of one of their workers suffering multiple fractures to his right arm when a forklift truck telehandler he was operating overturned.

The court heard that the operator had not been trained to use the machine and was not wearing a seat belt when the incident happened.