South Midland Construction Company Ltd has been fined €100,000 for breach of health and safety regulations which led to the death of an employee.was crushed
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Michael Murphy, employed by the company as a grab lorry-driver since 1998, died in Blanchardstown in November 2002 from severe brain trauma after the grab bucket of the lorry crane swung around and crushed his head.
South Midland Construction Company Ltd. (SMC), pleaded guilty in March to failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees on November 23rd, 2002, while the company was carrying out contract work on Church Avenue, Blanchardstown.
Health and safety inspector Martin O'Dea told Patrick McGrath, prosecuting, that investigations into Mr Murphy's death showed that sensors in the lorry that would have stopped the bucket from coming into the vicinity of Mr Murphy were not present on the machine.
Mr O'Dea said that location of the wacker-compactor which he was going to unload using the lorry crane also contributed to the accident, as it had been too near the lorry from which Mr Murphy was operating the crane.
Mr O'Dea's investigations further showed there were features in the Epsilon Palfinger E93 which contributed to the accident, including a lack of proper instruction manual relating to the sensors, and the guards protecting the operation area not being high enough.
Were those guards higher, Mr O'Dea told Judge Michael White, it might have prevented Mr Murphy from inadvertently operating the levers which caused the grab bucket to swing into operation.
Judge White noted that SMC had a good record on health and safety measures which showed that it took the safety of their employees seriously.
"This is not a company that has disregarded safety and was in no way an operator which the health and safety authorities would have concerns about," he said.
He also noted that since the accident which resulted in Mr Murphy's death, SMC has taken substantial matters to modify the faulty system that was in operation on the day of his accident.
Despite being impressed with the general steps SMC had taken to safeguard the health and safety of their employees before and since the accident, Judge White said, the court has a duty to ensure the level of fine he imposes on the company acts as a general deterrent to those who disregard their employees' health and safety.
Mr Fergal Kavanagh SC, defending, had earlier told the court that SMC spends 1.53 per cent on health and safety while the average spend on the issue in the construction industry is .03 per cent.
Even before the accident the company was spending 0.4 per cent on health and safety.
SMC is also in the process of building a state-of-the-art hi-tech health and safety training school for the company's employees as well as for other companies in the industry, the court heard.