A construction firm has been fined after one of its workers were seriously injured in an accident in Moray.
Paul Fennelly suffered a snapped thigh bone after his leg was trapped against a pipe while he was working in an excavation trench off the B9012 near Duffus in July 2011.
Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday heard the 48-year-old had been working in the trench after being told the water supply had been cut off.
But a sudden gush of water caused part of the trench to collapse, trapping his right leg against a pipe.
His colleagues dug him out and he was taken to hospital with a snapped thigh bone.
An operation to insert a pin and bolts into his leg was required and he was hospitalised for 10 days.
Mr Fennelly, from Hamilton, had to use walking sticks for five months after the accident and was unable to return to work for nearly a year.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Edinburgh-based Galliford Try Infrastructure Ltd had breached safety regulations.
The firm, which yesterday admitted its failings, was fined £3,000.
Afterwards HSE principal inspector Niall Miller said: “Risks relating to the collapse of excavations are long-standing and well-documented.
“Mr Fennelly has been left with a very painful injury from which he has still not fully recovered.”
