AN ANDOVER company has been fined after a lift collapsed and paralysed a man.

The Platform Lift Company, who are based in Anton Business Park, were contracted to dismantle an external elevator at Alton College in 2017 when a heavy component toppled to the ground, Basingstoke Magistrates' Court heard last week.

The employee, who was working on it at the time, fell with the lift and suffered serious life changing injuries which resulted in him being paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, reports Health and Safety Matters.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Dominic Goacher said: “Neither party adequately planned the work and failed to identify suitable control measures such as scaffold to prevent falls.

“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that the firm had sub-contracted the work to the now-defunct Premier Lift Solutions Ltd.

Davey Marcus, of Windsor Avenue in Whitehead, County Antrim, who directed PLS, also appeared in court where he was fined £480 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.

The Platform Lift Company were fined £6,000, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £170 and costs of £9,105.