A Pembroke Dock construction company and its director have been prosecuted after a labourer suffered serious injuries on a construction site.
Karl Kraus, 31, from Pembroke Dock was employed by Preseli Construction & Maintenance Ltd, and was working on the build of a large domestic property at Incline Way, Saundersfoot.
Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court heard that on 25 March 2010, Mr Kraus was instructed to remove a concrete block that had been placed across a doorway. As he proceeded to throw the block, he fell backwards on to the balcony and then seven metres to the ground below.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the three-storey house was being built without scaffold or any form of fall prevention.
Preseli Construction & Maintenance Ltd and its director, Mr Christopher Newell, had failed to ensure that work at height was properly planned and supervised. They also failed to ensure that it was carried out in a safe manner.
Preseli Construction & Maintenance Ltd of Waterloo Industrial Estate, Eastern Avenue, Pembroke Dock pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,376.25.
Mr Christopher Newell of The Glebe, Narberth Road, Tenby also pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined £4,000, with costs of £2,376.25. Mr Newell is also disqualified from acting as a company director, managing or in any way controlling a company for at least two years.