A CALDERDALE business has been fined after a worker was hit by a steel girder.
Gareth Dodds was left with devastating injuries when he was struck by a 20-metre metal girder which had been moved by a hydraulic excavator in 2008.
And his employers, James Hudson Demolition Ltd, of Northowram, was fined £7,500 and left with £20,000 legal costs.
Mr Dodds, from South Shields, was working on a demolition site in Doncaster when he was hit on the head by the steel girder.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution against Mr Dodds’ employer, James Hudson Demolition Ltd, after investigating the incident.
Doncaster Crown Court was told that on the day of the incident, Mr Dodds, then 28, had been moving materials around. But the court heard that there were no safeguards in place to keep them a safe distance from the machines and their loads.
As a result, Mr Dodds was hit by the girder as it was being moved. He suffered extensive head injuries and fractured vertebrae.
James Hudson Demolition Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
