Firm fined after worker buried alive in trench

● Man in hospital for two weeks with broken ribs and punctured lungs

A worker was buried alive when a trench collapsed because of health and safety lapses by bosses, leaving him with horrific injuries.

Julian Kilbane survived the accident when colleagues rushed to dig him out from under tonnes of soil that had fallen on him and left only the very top of his head exposed.

Wallace Roofing and Buildingltdhavebeenfined£14,000 over the incident, which left Mr Kilbane, 43, in intensive care for six days with punctured lungs and all but two of his ribs broken.

Fiscal depute Lynn Jamieson told Dundee Sheriff Court that Mr Kilbane was working to connect drains on an extension at Millfield House in Falkland, Fife, to a sewer when the incident occurred.

He was standing in a trench around nine feet deep and five feet wide when they came across a large rock blocking their path.

Mr Kilbane asked another worker to use an excavator to loosen it and clear the path.

But when he did so one wall of the trench collapsed.

Miss Jamieson said: “This buried Mr Kilbane who spent six days in intensive care followed by five days in the high dependencyunitandfourdays on a ward.

“He sustained a broken shoulder and collarbone, both lungs were punctured and he suffered multiple fractures to his ribs – all bar two of them.

“He may require an operation in the future if the pain becomes intolerable.

“He has been advised he has scar tissue on his lungs from his broken ribs which causes him to get breathless when he walks for several minutes.

“He has been told this will not improve and he has the lungs of someone 30 years older than him.

“He has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and still suffers from some effects.”

She said it was foreseeable that the unsupported trench wall would collapse.

Wallace Roofing and Building Ltd, based at The Mill, Milldeans, Star, Fife, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act of failing to provide sufficient training to staff, failing to maintain a safe system of work and failing to make a suitable risk assessment.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael fined the firm £14,000.