Shannon Brasier, 22, was working at her “dream job” with Ace Demolition Services when she was crushed between a 21-tonne excavator and a mobile fuel tank while helping to demolish a college in Southend, Essex in 2020.

She was left in an induced coma and put on life support after the crush caused a brain injury, broken facial bones and a fractured neck bone.

Brasier had made a miraculous recovery but is still unable to work as she continues with corrective surgeries and rehabilitation.

She told the Southend Echo: “I have a mix of emotions. I’m upset and angry. What do you expect from something that happened to a 20-year-old? I had my dream job, I was moving up quickly, and then it just all crumbled underneath me.

“I don’t remember much about the incident as I have 48-hour memory loss around the event. I remember using a petrol grinder and then waking up in hospital.

“If they had followed simple health and safety rules and regulations I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

She is currently awaiting tests to see if she is able to return to work in the industry she loves. Brasier said: “I don’t know anything better and I’m not willing to learn a new trade. I loved my job.”

Ace Demolition Services was fined £20,000 this week and its director John Gilligan ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid community work by Chelmsford Magistrates following a prosecution by the HSE.