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 and Laing O’Rourke Delivery 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 (ONR), 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 on 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 and Laing O’Rourke Delivery 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 (JV) partners in Bylor JV, which is 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 hearing.

The decision to begin legal proceedings followed an investigation into the incident by the ONR. No further comment can be made at this time, the ONR said, as legal proceedings are ongoing.