JCB has been fined GBP25,000 (USD37,863) after a worker suffered multiple injuries while working on the production line.

According to The Sentinel, Roger Pearce, 56, was installing a mirror arm on a telehandler when his colleague, oblivious to his presence, tested the vehicle's steering and subsequently crushed Pearce between the vehicle's body and wheel.

Pearce sustained multiple fractures to his ribs and spine, as well as internal injuries. He has since remained off work.

JCB was fined for not having risk assessment in place and falling well below the standard that could reasonably be expected of it.

Dave Brassington, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told Stafford Magistrates' Court that Pearce was working at JCB's Rocester plant through an agency when the incident happened on 3 June 2013, The Sentinel reported.

"Pearce was installing an arm which installs a mirror on a telescopic handler. During the assembly of that vehicle he was working in the first area of the assembly track where the hydraulics became live and functional.

"In late May and early June 2013, there was a change to the assembly sequence of this particular type of vehicle. He was installing the lower fitting on the arms and was crouching low down when a colleague performed a steering wheel test.

"The front offside wheel crushed him against the bodywork. Pearce's injuries had the potential to be fatal," Brassington told the court.

JCB pleaded guilty to breaching section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Regulation 3 (1) (b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations Act 1999.

The Sentinel reported that the court heard this was not the company's first serious health and safety breach. In 2006, an employee suffered fatal injuries due to a fault on a hydraulic system of a backhoe loader.

Edward Brown, mitigating for JCB, said Pearce's situation has improved and the company, which has continued to pay him since the incident, is hopeful he will be able to return to work.

Brown said the incident was an isolated breach and added the company takes health and safety very seriously.

He said: "The sequence of assembly, which is the origin of this problem, was immediately reviewed and changed.

"There is no question in this case of this company taking short cuts over health and safety for profit reasons. They do not skimp on health and safety.

"JCB aims to have no injuries at all. There is no bad record. The 2008 conviction referred to an event in 2006. About 400,000 machines have been produced since 2006 without any enforcement notices or prosecutions."