A WA company and its director have been ordered to pay almost $74,000 in fines and court costs after a worker suffered serious permanent injuries during an excavator accident.

Sunchaser Enterprises had been contracted to do trenching works and install supply services, such as power and communication cables, at a Wundowie housing estate in February 2016.

Director Andrew Joseph Gorringe, who was operating a 20 tonne excavator, lifted the cable drum and swung it over the services trench where two labourers were waiting to lay the cable.

When he noticed the rope securing the cable to the drum had not been cut, the victim leaned underneath to cut it but the drum fell, pinning him to the ground and causing injuries to his chest, back and legs that left him unable to return to manual labour.

The equipment was not rated for lifting and Gorringe did not hold a licence.

Sunchaser pleaded guilty to two offences including failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace, which resulted in serious harm to an employee, and was fined $47,000 in Northam Magistrates Court.

Gorringe was fined $22,500. There was also an order to pay $4391 in court costs.

WorkSafe WA commissioner Darren Kavanagh said Mr Gorringe should have foreseen the hazard given he had been injured in a similar incident in 1998.

“The unfortunate victim of Mr Gorringe’s failures - who was only 30 years old at the time - now has to live and work for the rest of his life with the limitations his severe injuries have resulted in,” Mr Kavanagh said.