A company has been fined £200,000 over a serious injury to a labourer who was left paralysed from the waist down after heavy pipe work fell on him.

Forefront Utilities Ltd had denied failing to discharge its duty under Health and Safety laws but was unanimously convicted by a jury. The company was ordered to pay £56,668 court costs.

Mark Durrant was working in a road trench when he was pinned down by the high pressure gas pipe which had dropped from a narrow piece of timber in Strood.

The wood measured 75mm wide and straddled the 1.38m deep trench. It rested on a small area of Tarmac either side, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

The pipe work comprised eight 12-metre sections of rigid plastic, each weighing 440kg.

One end had been lifted by an excavator and was propped on the timber across the trench where Mr Durrant was working.

Prosecutor Vivek D’Cruz said it dropped onto Mr Durrant’s back when the road surface on which the wood was balanced gave way under its sheer weight.

He needed eight hours of surgery for two shattered lower vertebrae, a torn spinal cord and sac and two fractured ribs.

Mr Durrant was one of three men laying gas pipes for Forefront in Commissioners Road on May 23 2014.

The company, based in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, was sub-contracted by Southern Gas Networks to lay a total of 1.5km of mains gas pipes.

Mr Durrant had carried similar work previously during his seven years employment.

Mr D’Cruz said the timber used was not designed for the purpose, having originally been part of material from delivery packing.

The practice, he said, was common within the company and went unchallenged when carried out in front of management.

Mr D’Cruz said Forefront Utilities failed in its duty to protect its employees from serious injury or death by not having a clearly defined safe system of work for joining the pipe work.

The workmen had simply adopted their own unsafe method which created a clear and obvious risk as the slim piece of wood could not possibly support the considerable weight of the pipe.

“This dangerous procedure had occurred many times before the incident which resulted in such a serious injury to Mr Durrant and had gone unchallenged by anyone at Forefront Utilities,” added Mr D’Cruz.

The company was given three years to pay the fine and costs. Mr Durrant is seeking compensation in a civil action.