A Borehamwood employment agency and a warehousing company have been fined following an incident in which a teenager was injured doing temporary work.

Select Appointments Plc, which has an office in Shenley Road, and Pannell Warehousing Ltd, of Chester Road, Borehamwood, appeared in court last month.

Both companies pleaded guilty to three charges relating to a 17-year-old, Graham Sudbury, who was sent by Select to work at Pannell Warehousing in October last year.

While at Pannell he was asked to help unload a heavy goods vehicle and was bruised by boxes being thrown down at him ,, he almost collapsed through exhaustion.

Select Appointments this week apologised for the distress caused to Mr Sudbury and said procedures were in place to prevent any similar incidents in the future.

A spokesman said: 'We are sorry for what has happened ,, action has been taken in each of these three areas to prevent this occurring again.'

The case was heard at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates Court following a health and safety investigation by Hertsmere Borough Council's environmental health department. Select admitted employing a young person without making a risk assessment; failing to ensure a young person it employed was protected from risk at work; and failing to avoid the need for its employees to undertake certain manual handling operations.

The firm was fined £750 for each offence and ordered to pay the council's investigative costs of £1,365, as well as £2,073 towards its legal costs.

Pannell Warehousing admitted failing to ensure a person not in its employment was not exposed to risk, and that such a person was given appropriate instructions. It also pleaded guilty to failing to make a manual handling risk assessment.

The company was fined £2,250 for the first offence, but no separate penalty was imposed for the other two. It was ordered to pay £1, 368 towards the council's investigative costs and £1,953 towards its legal costs.