An East Yorkshire building company has been prosecuted after bricklayer was run over by a digger on a building site.

In July 2009, 56-year-old Andrew Trezise from Pocklington, suffered a broken pelvis and serious leg injuries in the incident.

Mr Trezise was working for brothers Bryan Kendra and Michael Kendra of L & S Kendra & Sons at a construction site at May Cottage in Mill Lane, Seaton Ross when the accident occurred. Bryan Kendra was driving a reversing 360-degree excavator digger, when it struck and drove over Mr Trezise.

The HSE investigation found that there were no markings to indicate where the digger was working, to ensure that it was separated from pedestrian movements on site. A reversing assistant had not been deployed to oversee reversing manoeuvres for the digger prior to the incident, HSE inspectors said.

On Wednesday, March 24 2010 at Beverley Magistrates’ Court, Bryan Christopher Kendra and Michael Antony Kendra of L & S Kendra & Sons – based at Meadow Bank, Melbourne in East Yorkshire – pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were each fined £9,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 each in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Geoff Clark said that L & S Kendra and Sons failed to have ‘proper systems in place at the site’ to restrict and control the movement of the digger – and as a result, workers on the site were left at serious risk.

‘Andrew Trezise should have been able to carry out his duties on the construction site without being seriously injured,’ said Mr Clark.

‘It is essential that steps are taken to segregate moving machinery – such as diggers – from other people on site.’

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