The 44-year-old employee of City & County Signs Ltd was using the aerial work platform (AWP) to remove a sign from a commercial property in Hucknall High Street when the incident happened.
Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court heard that the worker was standing in the basket but as it elevated one of two levelling rods that keep the basket horizontal broke, causing the basket to tip backwards.
Although the man fell only 1.5m, it was enough to break his neck. He was off work for nine weeks.
A Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that City & County Signs had failed to ensure the vehicle-mounted lift was thoroughly examined in the six months before the incident, as required by law.
City & County Signs Ltd, of Market Place, Bingham, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(3)(a)(i) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was today fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,032.
After the hearing HSE inspector Lorna Sherlock said: "There is a legal requirement for all employers who use lifting equipment to ensure they have it thoroughly examined by a competent person every six months. Had the company done this the cracks in the levelling rod would have been identified and repaired and this incident avoided. Instead, a worker suffered some nasty injuries which could have easily been much worse."
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