A 37-year-old woman was left paralysed after being crushed by a section of a wind turbine at Siemens’ offshore manufacturing site in Hull.

The incident occurred as the worker and a colleague were working on the pre-cast section of the web, which sits at the root end of the blade where it connects to the rotor, before additional materials are added during the build process.

The section, which weighs approximately 800kg, fell towards them after the support poles that had been holding the structure in place were removed.

An HSE investigation found that the company failed to assess the risks arising from the work adequately; failed to devise and implement a robust safe system of work to prevent employees from removing the support poles; and failed to adequately train employees in safe working methods. As a result, employees adopted unsafe practices to complete the task.

The regulator’s inspector overseeing the incident, Mark Slater, said: “In this case, inadequate risk assessment and inadequate systems of work left employees to adopt their own working methods, exposing them to an unacceptable level of risk. This was a wholly avoidable incident.”

Following the incident, the company implemented a system whereby support poles are locked in place and can only be unlocked by a nominated person holding the key, once the relevant stage of the build has been completed.