by Keith Hunt

An engineering company has been fined £20,000 over "horrific" burns caused to a construction worker when he struck an underground electrical cable on a building site.

Dwyer Engineering Services Ltd, of Swiss Cottage, North West London, will also have to pay the £14,532 costs of case.

The family business admitted contravening health and safety regulations at the site in Burial Ground Road, Tovil, Maidstone, on June 12 last year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the company was the principal contractor for laying mains sewers for a new home for the elderly.

Bradley Marsh, 29, had only been working as a labourer on the site for four days when an electric cable was found.

He dug around it with a shovel but when he used a jack hammer to remove concrete he hit another cable next to it and was blown back.

Mr Marsh's clothing caught fire and he suffered 62 per cent burns to his body. He was treated in hospital for 18 days.

Judge Philip Statman said he had seen photographs of the horrifying injuries the victim received. He described the profound effect it had on his quality of life.

A diagram of cables, said Judge Statman, should have been obtained from EDF Energy as a matter of urgency and safety clothing would have protected Mr Marsh from injury.

Safety measures were immediately revised and put into operation after the accident.

The company had 14 employees and an annual turnover of £3.5 million in 2008 with a profit of £60,000.

Because of the recession, the turnover this year was expected to be £1.8 million with a loss of about £32,000.