A CONSTRUCTION firm has been fined after a worker was injured by boards which fell from a crane.

The man was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken leg and fractured ribs during the incident, which occurred at a Balfour Beatty building site in St Aldhelms Road, Branksome, on May 6 last year.

Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court heard last week that a load of 15 plaster boards, weighing a total of 544 kilograms, was being lifted by crane from the fourth floor of the building under construction to a lift loading bay at the front of the building.

As the load descended into the bay it snagged on scaffolding which caused the boards to fall out of the retaining slings.

The worker was struck by a number of the boards as he stood in the loading bay.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service were called to the scene of the incident and used an aerial ladder platform and basket stretcher to move the casualty to ground level, and he was taken to Poole Hospital on a spinal board.

Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Limited, the principal contractor in the project, was fined a total of £22,000, and ordered to pay £16,089 in costs after pleading guilty to three offences under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

No compensation order was made as a claim is being dealt with through the civil courts. The case was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.

A Balfour Beatty spokesman said: "The safety of our workforce and the public is always our primary concern.

"Following the incident on May 6 we co-operated fully with the HSE in their investigation, and have since sought to ensure there is no repetition of such an incident."

The British company is the largest construction firm in the UK and is active in 80 different countries.

It is well known for its involvement in railway infrastructure and played a role in the construction of the Channel Tunnel, as well as the new Crossrail scheme in London.