A CIVIL engineering firm has been fined £10,000 for breaches of health and safety law after a customer was killed in an accident at their Swindon base.

Roland Hillier-Paul went to Crapper and Sons in Bridge End Road, Stratton, to get some topsoil when he was crushed to death by a 13 ton excavator, Swindon Crown Court heard.

And the death in May last year was the second fatality at the family firm, with a turnover in excess of £6m in just over three years.

The court heard that in May 1998 the firm was convicted of health and safety offences after a man died when a trench collapsed at the site in March the previous year.

Stephen Climie, prosecuting, said Mr Hillier-Paul was a 43-year-old site agent working on a section of the A420 and had problems getting suitable topsoil for the roadside.

He said the father of daughters, aged 14 and eight, went to Crapper and Sons at about 4pm on May 31 last year and saw directors Lawrence Crapper and his son Richard.

The three men went to the part of the site where an excavator and screener were in operation recycling topsoil.

He said there is no suggestion that the man operating the excavator was in any way to blame as he was not made aware of the three men being there.

Mr Hillier-Paul told Richard Crapper that he wanted to check the quality of the topsoil and went to the pile of earth to run some through his fingers.

However the excavator turned, causing him to fall, trapping his legs and within seconds it crushed his abdomen and chest. He was certified dead before reaching the hospital.

Mr Climie said that the criticisms of the firm were that they did not make the victim aware of the rules for visitors, failed to make the driver of excavator aware that they were there and did not stop Mr Hillier-Paul from getting near to the machine.

He told the court that the last set of accounts for the company, whose shares were owned solely be members of the same family, showed they had a turnover of more than £6m with post tax profits of £196,000.

The company pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to a breach of section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Defending, Richard Stead said: "Can I make it quite plain it was a tragic accident and nothing I can say today is intended to diminish that fact."

He said that although it was the second fatality at the premises the family firm had been going since the 1960s and had a good health and safety record.

Since the accident he said further steps had been taken to bolster regulations at the firm to stop further accidents happening.

The Crapper family had also sold all of the business except for the landfill site, partly as a result of the two deaths which had a great effect on the directors.

He said that Mr Hillier-Paul was an experienced site agent and should have known to alert the operator of the machine to their presence.

The crux of the case, he said, was the deceased being allowed to move forward into the area without the machine being stopped. He said it was final line of defence which failed.

Passing sentence judge Lester Boothman said: "I am satisfied that this tragedy was caused by a momentary lapse.

"The directors of the company should have stopped the deceased when he stepped forward and, or, should have stopped the driver of the excavator. It happened in seconds, there was very little time for the directors to take that course."

As well as the fine of £10,000 the company was also ordered to pay £9,358 in towards the costs of the prosecution.