A company is facing sentence for failing to discharge its duty under Health and Safety laws after heavy pipe work fell onto a labourer and left him paralysed from the waist down.

Forefront Utilities Ltd denied the charge but was unanimously convicted by a jury.

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.

“This dangerous procedure had occurred many times before the incident..." - Prosecutor Vivek D’Cruz

He needed eight hours of surgery for two shattered lower vertebrae, a torn spinal cord and sac and two fractured ribs. He was left paralysed from the waist down.

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 out 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.”

Sentence was adjourned to April 12.