On 10 December two companies pleaded not guilty at Bristol Magistrates Court to health and safety offences following an accident that left a worker seriously injured at the Hinkley Point nuclear construction site.
Bouygues Travaux Publics SAS and Laing O’Rourke Delivery Ltd each faces a single charge of failing to plan, manage and monitor construction work without risks to health and safety.
The prosecution was instigated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the UK’s independent nuclear regulator. It relates to an incident at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, on 20 August, 2022.
Paul Dunne, who worked for Bylor Services as a slinger, sustained serious injuries in a pre-fabrication yard when a wall of rebar mesh fell upon him as he was working to remove the wall from a vertical jig, to be transferred to another part of the site.
In court, Bouygues Travaux Publics SAS and Laing O’Rourke Delivery Ltd entered not guilty pleas to failing to plan, manage and monitor to ensure that construction work was carried out without risks to health and safety, contravening Regulation 15(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
The two contractors are joint venture partners in Bylor JV, delivering the main civil engineering works at the Hinkley Point C nuclear construction project. The case was adjourned until 30 January 2026 at Bristol Crown Court for a pre-trial review. hearing.
The decision to begin legal proceedings followed an investigation into the incident by ONR. No further comment can be made at this time, says ONR, as legal proceedings are ongoing.
