Brighton Magistrates Court heard about the accident on 20 January 2017 at Redhill Station in Surrey.

Workers were constructing a piling platform from expanded polystyrene blocks when one of the blocks slipped from an excavator bucket whilst being lowered into place, hitting Andrew Stewart.

He is still suffering the effects of the injury and is likely to be on pain medication for the foreseeable future.

An HSE investigation found that the lifting operation had not used appropriate accessories to transport the load and had simply trapped the load with the bucket against the dipping arm of the excavator.

Bam Nuttall Limited of Camberley pleaded guilty to safety breaches and was fined £833,333.33 and ordered to pay full costs of £5,478.22 as well as the victim surcharge of £170.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Cousins commented: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply using appropriate lifting accessories such as chains and strops to carry out the lifting operation.

“Failure to do so has resulted in the serious injury of Andrew Stewart.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate action against those that fall below required standards.”