Small accident fines imposed

Perhaps the most striking feature of the summary of convictions obtained last year in the recently published Health and Safety Authority annual report is the ongoing paucity of the levels of fines.

Of 55 cases heard and 49 convictions obtained, the total fines came to only £45,675 or an average of only £952 per case, notwithstanding that in one of the cases in which the probation of offenders was applied, a condition was imposed to pay £4,000 to the court poor box.

The names of companies and individuals against whom convictions were obtained are listed in appendix 2 of the annual report. Convictions include a £100 fine with £200 costs and expenses in a case that arose from an accident in which an employee was killed by a refuse collection vehicle.

A £400 fine u400 with £380 witnesses expenses was imposed on a company following its failure to guard two rotating rollers two months after a worker's hand had been dragged into the unguarded nip between the rollers.

A defendant who electrified a barbed wire fence by connecting it to his domestic electricity supply with no residual current device installed was fined £200 with £70 expenses after a teenager touched the electrified fence and was killed. A £100 fine u100 was imposed in a case that arose following a wall collapse into an excavation, seriously injuring an employee of the contractor. A similar accident involving a different contractor and employee where a wall collapsed into a trench ended in a £50 u50 fine with £500 costs.

Another company was fined £100 with £500 expenses following an accident in which an employee was asphyxiated while cleaning the inside of a drum with cloth soaked in trichloroethylene. A steel erector had to pay a £700 fine after a fatal accident in which an employee stepped onto a perspex roof and fell to the ground. A company was fined £400 following an accident in which an employee lost four fingers of her right hand.

A £1,000 fine was imposed following an accident in which two people were seriously injured when they fell from a mobile tower scaffold. The scaffold overbalanced and fell while being moved.

A construction firm was fined £700 following an accident in which a member of the public sustained a severe head injury when struck by a block falling from the roof of a construction site.

A fatal injury caused by being struck by an empty potato box within a coldstore resulted in a £475 fine with £600 costs against another company.

A fine of £500 with £50 expenses was imposed following severe electric shock to the driver of a truck from 10KV overhead power lines. A £500 fine u500 was imposed following the investigation into a serious accident in which an employee's ear was severed because of the failure of an over-pressurised hydraulic jack.

In the construction sector, 22 people died. For instance, a plasterer fell through an opening for a stairs onto a concrete floor. A labourer fell with a collapsing structure and an excavation machine fell on top of him. Six fishermen lost their lives and in the manufacturing sector four died, three from falls and the fourth from electrocution. The HSA believes there is significant underreporting of occupational diseases, with only 33 reported cases of occupational dermatitis, 11 of musculoskeletal disorders, three of occupational asthma and two asbestos-related cases.

Joe Armstrong can be contacted at jmarms@irish-times.ie The HSA website is http://www.hsa.ie/osh