A social housing company has been ordered to pay £528,000 after an employee repairing a fence post inadvertently struck an underground cable.

The MHS Homes employee was repairing fences with a colleague in a tenant's back garden in January 2023 using a 'breaker' on the concrete. He struck an electrical cable and sustained burn injuries to his face.

The incident 'could have been much worse and potentially fatal', said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who revealed in court that gas services were also found where the workers had been digging. Investigators said the company failed to provide any information to employees on the location of underground services and did not provide suitable equipment to detect and safely excavate underground services. Though  had previously identified the risk of underground services in a risk assessment in 2017.

IT IS VITAL THAT EMPLOYEES ARE PROVIDED WITH THE CORRECT TOOLS AND DETECTION EQUIPMENT TO DO THEIR WORK SAFELY

'Underground services are widespread and represent a significant risk,' said HSE inspector Peter Bruce after the hearing. 'It is important measures are taken to identify them before any excavation work is undertaken.'

MHS Homes admitted breaching regulation 16(2), by virtue of non-compliance with regulation 25(4) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £528,000 and must pay £4,122 in prosecution costs.

'On this occasion, an electrical cable was struck and a worker suffered minor injuries. However it could have been much worse and potentially fatal,' Peter added. 'Those [in charge of] excavating the ground need to ensure that they obtain service plans prior to the work taking place. It is also vital that employees are provided with the correct tools and detection equipment to do their work safely.

Source: IOSH Magazine

Comment: "With a risk assessment carried out previously, the area should have been reassessed as the conditions may have changed, with Cable Avoidance Scanning carried out to eliminate the hazard further."