Footage filmed for a BBC documentary called Trauma helped convict a construction company after the needless death of a 25-year-old labourer.

Regentford, of Rookwood Road, Hackney, will have to pay out more than £321,000 after the footage showed the shocking condition of the scaffolding Balwinder Kumar fell from.

Mr Kumar (also known as Binder Singh) suffered severe head injuries when he fell one storey from scaffolding at a South Norwood building site on February 24, 2005.

The mason and plasterer, from Forest Gate, was repointing brickwork when the accident happened at the rear of a building in the High Street.

He was taken to King’s College Hospital by paramedics but, despite the best efforts of doctors, he died on March 1, 2005.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated but the scaffolding at the Regentford site had been removed when they got there.

However, a TV crew were following the medics who worked to save Mr Kumar’s life.

The footage, filmed for a BBC documentary Trauma, showed the poor condition of the scaffolding, which had insufficient guard rails and an inadequate working platform.

The HSE investigation showed health and safety had been mismanaged by Regentford with no one in effective control of safe working conditions on the South Norwood site.

The company was fined £250,000 after being convicted of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, following an eight-day trial at Croydon Crown Court. They were also ordered to pay costs of £71,603.01.

Nigel Evans, HSE inspector, said: “The footage from the documentary crew showed the scaffolding was totally inadequate for the job in hand.”