Swissport Ireland fined €250,000 over death of employee in Dublin Airport fall

The woman whose husband died after falling while working at Dublin Airport five years ago has told a court that she has been left with no answers as to why the fatal incident happened.

Richard Gracey (64), of Balbriggan, Co Dublin, was unloading cargo from a plane on November 24th, 2018 when he fell 5m headfirst to the ground and suffered fatal injuries.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the main deck loader, a moving platform for unloading cargo, was 2.7m away from the aircraft door when Mr Gracey fell and that this gap should have been no more than three inches.

Swissport Ireland Limited was on Thursday fined €250,000 after it admitted failing to ensure the safety and welfare of people at work on the morning in question. Kirsten Brooks, an authorised representative of Swissport Ireland, further pleaded guilty to failing to provide adequate fall prevention measures in relation to the off-loading of a cargo plane.

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Failure to police

Judge Martin Nolan said that had the loader been flush to the plane as it should have been, the fatal accident would not have happened. The court heard there was a failure to police safety measures that would normally be in place.

A Health and Safety Authority (HSA) inspector said that while it was not industry standard for staff to be harnessed while unloading cargo from an aircraft, she believed this ought to be reconsidered.

Mr Gracey and six other employees were unloading an Air France cargo Boeing 777 which had flown in from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago at the time of the incident.

Mr Gracey’s daughter, Laura, read aloud a victim impact statement prepared by her mother, Therese Gracey, describing the debilitating grief, anger and sadness she and her family have suffered since the incident. Mrs Gracey said Richard, who started working with the firm in 2005, loved his job and was “so meticulous and safety conscious in every aspect of his work”.

She said he often came home from work disheartened “because of difficulty with machinery” and described the situation at his workplace as “accidents waiting to happen”. She said she only learned four years later in a courtroom of her husband’s “total innocence” in what happened that day and has been left with more questions.

“No words can explain or conjure up such an immense loss of such a solid presence in my home and in my heart,” wrote Mrs Gracey, adding that it pains her to watch her children struggling with the awful trauma of losing their father in such a way.

Duty of care

Solicitors for the Gracey family issued a statement calling on all employers to appreciate the duty of care they owe to their employees and to take all appropriate steps to ensure employees are adequately trained and not exposed to the risk of harm. They also called for a change in policy so that families can receive more detailed information about the circumstances of a death of a loved one at the workplace and not having to wait until the conclusion of a prosecution.

Addressing the Gracey family, Judge Nolan thanked them for submitting their oral and written victim impact statements. He said it was devastating, tragic and difficult case of a very loyal employee who liked his work but did not come home.

The judge noted that while his court has imposed a fine to punish the company, the issue of compensation to the family is being dealt with by another court. The court heard the fine could have been a maximum of €3million.

HSA inspector Mairead Wall said Mr Gracey had been carrying out two roles on the day, of team leader and trainer, when he fell from the main cargo deck door of the aircraft. She said a yellow safety net, which served as a visual warning, was not attached correctly to the main cargo deck door, with only three of four hook points connected.

Swissport Ireland, which provides airport ground, lounge hospitality and cargo handling services, has no previous convictions. Insp Wall agreed with Remy Farrell SC, defending Swissport, that the company had cooperated with the garda investigation at all times and implemented substantial training.

Mr Farrell offered his sincere condolences to the Gracey family on behalf of Swissport and said that although the company had a health and safety system in place, it was not policed on the day.

The court heard that Swissport took immediate significant remedial steps to review operating standards and procedures and had provided all relevant documentation to the court.