A CONTRACTOR working on Bury's Mill Gate centre has been fined £4,000 after a half-ton concrete block crushed a bricklayer, putting him into a wheelchair for life.

Mr Gary Rowe suffered a severed spinal cord, broken leg, fractured ribs and a punctured lung after a half ton concrete slab crashed onto him in February.

Only hours earlier Mr Rowe had started work on the extension to the Mill Gate with sub-contractors Style Construction.

Main contractors, Wate Construction pleaded guilty at Bury Magistrates Court yesterday to not taking sufficient steps to prevent persons at work being injured.

Prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, Mr Andy Sneddon described how Mr Rowe suffered his horrific injuries after the concrete floor slab plunged nearly 20ft, hitting him on the back and head.

According to Mr Sneddon, the bricklayer, together with other workmates, were working directly underneath another construction team as they were levering the heavy concrete blocks into place. That was despite earlier concerns which had been raised with the management about the practice.

Mr Sneddon said: "Mr Rowe was working underneath the first floor where blocks were being lifted into place by crane. At the time of the accident they were being manipulated using crowbars when one of them fell."

After the accident the injured man was taken by ambulance, with a police escort, at crawling pace along motorway routes to the Regional Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport and District General Hospital. Mr Sneddon said that the precautions that were taken were "vague and ill defined". He added that no physical barrier had been set up to prevent such an accident happening and the very fact that men were working underneath other men should have been prevented.

However, defending, Mrs Denise Buckley said that London-based Wate Construction was a company of national reputation who had been in business for the last hundred years.

She described how the company had its own "Keep It Safe" campaign and issued all staff and sub-contractors with Health and Safety booklets and advice.

Wate's chief health and safety adviser, Mr Bob Sayers said: "We have always had a good safety record and been highly praised within the industry.

"Over the last year we have introduced a number of new initiatives under the banner of Keep It Safe. We have spent an awful lot of money in this campaign."

When asked about the foreseeability of the accident, he said: "If I had been on site that day I do not think I would have stopped the actual operation.

"We have taken the matter extremely seriously and, as a result, we have revised our own precast concrete work practices."

The company was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay nearly £500 costs.

However, the magistrates did not make any compensation payment to Mr Rowe, who lives in Rochdale and is pursuing a private action through the courts.

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