THE sister of a man crushed to death in a works accident has slammed a £50,000 fine imposed by a court on the company he worked for.

Martin Leonard, 24, had gone into a trench to try and dislodge a pipe at a site on Euxton Lane, Euxton, near Chorley when it collapsed on top of him, killing him in March 1999.

A hearing at Preston Crown Court yesterday fined the company involved, John Reilly Civil Engineering Ltd of Eastleigh in Hampshire, £50,000 after bosses admitted an offence of failing to ensure the safety of employees.

They firm was also ordered to pay £22,000 costs.

After the hearing Mr Leonard's sister, Julie Bunyan, of Blackburn, described the fine as "disgusting."

She said: "That is not a deterrent. It is nothing compared to the profits the company has made.

"They have not shown an ounce of remorse or regret to us. Justice has not been done. We are left in pieces."

The court heard that Mr Leonard, of Lakeland Gardens, Chorley, was a careful and conscientious worker.

The trench was unsupervised when a foreman was called away for a few minutes and the fatal incident occurred.

Stuart Denney, representing the company, said it had a good safety record and it had been thought that such an accident simply could not happen.

A failure of lines of command was the principal reason behind what happened.

There had since been further risk assessment and steps taken which included the appointment of an experienced health and safety officer. Judge Peter Openshaw QC said the sentence had to reflect public disquiet at the needless loss of life.

Also, it had to be sufficiently hard in order to ensure directors, shareholders and other companies put health and safety matters at the top of their company agenda.

A workshop on health and safety is to be held at Alston Power CHP construction site in Feniscowles, Blackburn today, run by the Health and Safety Executive.