Greenlife Property Developments, of Gwent in Wales, was also ordered to pay costs of £5,812.57 at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates on 20th January.

The prosecution was brought forward after the HSE found dangers were posed to Greenlife workers at a site in Cwmbach, Aberdare.

Inspectors had found workers in a two and a half metre excavation at the site in September 2023 which had vertical sides, leaving risk of sudden subsidence or collapse.

The site had also not been secured to prevent unauthorised access, and no risk assessment of the works had been carried out.

Craig Lewis, managing director at Greenlife, was present at the time.

Following the inspection, the firm was served with a prohibition notice by the HSE which required work to stop until such faults were corrected.

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Two improvement notices were also served by the HSE. However, work at the side continued with the firm failing to comply with the required work improvements.

The managing director also ignored repeated attempts by the HSE to contact him, and attempted to deceive the regulator by providing false information in relation to his company’s supposed compliance.

“Every year people are killed or seriously injured by collapsing and falling materials while working in excavations,” said HSE inspector Rachael Newman.

“Greenlife Property Developments Ltd failed to heed the warnings we evidently gave in our enforcement notices. They made no attempt to prevent the excavation from collapse. The company  failed to comply with two enforcement notices which were served to remove the risk and secure compliance with the law.

“The attempts to evade us were a deliberate breach and flagrant disregard of the law.”

The HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Matthew Reynolds and supported by HSE paralegal officer Jason Dix.