A quarry in Co Donegal was closed yesterday by the High Court after fears about unsafe work practices were expressed by the Health and Safety Authority.
The court heard that Barnes Limestone Quarry Ltd, at Barnes, Termon, had failed to stop certain activities as instructed by the authority earlier this week.
A HSA inspector had identified "serious hazards" during a routine inspection of the quarry on Tuesday, carried out as part of "quarry safety week", the court was told.
The order to close the quarry was granted to the authority by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, against Barnes Limestone Quarry Ltd, and Patrick Bonar, The Holm, Callencor, Drumkeen, Co Donegal.
Counsel on behalf of the HSA told the court that an inspector had visited the quarry two years ago and identified a number of the same safety hazards as were present this week.
These included inadequate guarding of machinery and a lack of emergency trip switches to prevent the risk of entanglement with machinery.
A prohibition notice was issued by the HSA inspector on Tuesday, prohibiting all activity in the vicinity of the crushing and screening machinery until it was made safe, the court was told.
When the inspector paid a follow-up visit on Wednesday, however, it was discovered that the machinery was still in operation and other safety issues had not been addressed as instructed.
The authority told the court that, given the "flagrant breach" of the prohibition notice and the recurrence of unsafe practices identified in 2003, it had no faith in the ability of the defendants to implement the necessary safety measures.
"Grave concern" about the increasing rate of fatalities in the quarrying sector was expressed by the HSA last Monday, at the start of quarry safety week.