A homeware firm in south Bucks was fined a staggering £2.2 million today as a judge blasted its "breathtaking" failure to recognise hazards which led to the death of an employee.

William Richardson suffered fatal brain injuries when he fell eight feet from a wet, wooden platform which had no guard rail around it at Decco Ltd in Chesham.

Judge Francis Sheridan slammed Decco’s health and safety as “idiotic” after it admitted breaches which led to tragic Mr Richardson's death.

The temporary worker's six siblings were in tears in court as they heard he was unloading pallets on an industrial site when he slipped on the wet wooden platform floor and fell onto a concrete floor.

He was flown to hospital by helicopter but died following an eight day coma on December 2014.

Judge Sheridan imposed the multi-million pound fine after it was revealed spring-loaded gates designed to protect workers from the platform edge at the DIY wholesaler's 30-acre industrial site had been badly worn.

The barriers had not been fixed after industry guidance was published stating the edge was dangerous, seven years before Mr Richardson died.

Judge Sheridan said: "The design was a Heath Robinson do-it-yourself contraption, in my view. The whole of the edge was unguarded which was simply disgraceful.

"This was an obvious danger. With or without safety advice, it would be idiotic to proceed without having regard to that.

"One doesn't need guidance, one just needs a modicum of common sense to realise this system was wholly inadequate and a disaster waiting to happen.

"Those responsible for this company should hang their heads in shame at the failings that led to a man's death."

Mr Richardson was employed by Decco, through an agency, to unload pallets when he plunged from the debris-laden slippery wooden surface onto a concrete floor below.

The company, which sells to high street retailers and garden centres across the UK, had admitted two breaches of the Health & Safety Act at an earlier magistrates court hearing in March.

Judge Sheridan, sentencing the firm today, said a colleague working with Mr Richardson described how he swivelled and slipped off the edge when he was unloading boxes on November 25, 2014.

The company's industrial site at Weir House Mill, Latimer Road, Chesham, employed more than 50 people at the time and up to 10 agency workers.

Judge Sheridan, sitting at Aylesbury Crown Court, heard that Chiltern District Council issued an improvement notice to the company after it shared its health and safety documentation with the authority after Mr Richardson, who was one week into this job, died having not been trained or briefed on it.

Ben Mills, prosecuting, previously told the court that a statement by the company, which last year had an annual turnover of £100m and has 255 permanent employees, following the death of Mr Richardson claimed that the company considered their systems were robust.

James Ageros QC, mitigating for Decco Ltd, likened the company to "John Lewis" after saying it put 40 per cent of it profits back into its workforce.

"That is an indication of the paternalistic way that the company treats its employees," he said. "This is wholly exceptional and untypical.

He said Decco Ltd had no previous convictions for health and safety issues in its 80 years' of trading and it went the extra mile to ensure its health and safety compliance was brought up to the required standards after the accident.

The company was fine £2.2 million. The fine was reduced from £3.3 million because of Decco's early guilty plea.