Firm fined £120,000 after builders caught hanging out of digger's airborne bucket

A building firm has been fined £120,000 after two workers were caught on camera hanging out of the airborne bucket of a digger.

The pair can be seen fitting a stone on a new house while crouching in the shallow trough.

They were working on a luxury newbuild housing development in Littleborough, Greater Manchester, in 2021.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Rochdale firm Hoyle Developments Limited pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws.

Inspectors had found "repeated breaches" on several visits, it added.

The site, where The Villas housing development was being built on Starring Road, had inadequate scaffolding, unsecure fencing and a lack of welfare facilities, an HSE statement said.

Inspectors made four visits between November 2018 and August 2021, and issued several notices over the health and safety contraventions.

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"Repeated breaches were found including a lack of sufficient welfare, unsuitable controls for work at height and inadequate protection from silica dust exposure," inspectors said.

The company has also been ordered to pay £3,165 in costs.

HSE Inspector Mike Lisle said: "Health and safety should be an integral part of any business, not an afterthought, and having a clear health and safety policy and construction phase plan in place, before work commences, can assist with ensuring this."

The small, gated estate features a number of luxury properties on the market for up to £700,000.