The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has told construction companies to carry out full risk assessments and staff training or face severe financial penalties.

The warning comes after a company was ordered to pay over £300,000 following the death of two workers.

WD Bennett's Plant & Services Ltd was fined £125,000 and ordered to pay costs of £264,299 after a company crane collapsed killing Steve Boatman and Gary Miles. The company, along with Eurolift Tower Cranes, were found guilty of safety breaches at Chichester Crown Court in March of this year.

The incident came after a third man, who was also severely injured, was instructed to de-torque and then re-tighten the crane's mast bolts. However, lack of adequate training meant he did not tighten each bolt individually causing the crane to collapse.

HSE Inspector Peter Collingwood, who led the investigation, said: “This fine reflects the seriousness of the company's breaches of health and safety legislation. The accident, in which two men lost their lives, was avoidable.

“It was caused by the inadequate supervision of a worker who was not trained, nor competent for the task that he was asked to undertake.”

Aidan Carr, partner and Head of Regulatory Law at Manchester based law firm Rowlands Solicitors LLP commented "Employers were put on notice as long ago as 1999 that the Courts would not tolerate exposing workers to the risk of serious injury and in this particular case, death. In the leading case of Howe and Son the Court of Appeal set out what they regarded as the mitigating and aggravating features in Health and Safety offences. They stated that the objective of prosecutions of this kind was to achieve a safe environment for workers and members of the public who may also be affected by a company's operations. A fine needed to be large enough to bring that message home, not only to those who manage the company but also to the shareholders.

"They further stated that there may be cases which were so bad that the Defendant company ought not to be in business.

"In other words that employers who were deliberately taking serious risks with the safety of their employees could and should be put out of business."