An accident at a construction site in Co Kildare which claimed the lives of two men would never have happened if there had not been "utter disregard" for health and safety on site, a Circuit Court Judge said yesterday.
Judge Raymond Groarke's comments came as he fined a construction company, Roseberry Construction of Newbridge, a total of £200,0000 for breaches of health and safety regulations. The director of the company, Mr Denis McIntyre, was also fined £40,000.
Naas Circuit Court heard the company was building 90 houses at Ballymany Manor, Newbridge, on July 20th, 1998, when the accident happened. A trench was being excavated for sewage and two men - Mr Robert Dunne of Coill Dubh, Robertstown, Co Kildare, and Mr Sean Treacy of The Heath, Portlaoise - were fixing pipes in it when one of the trench walls collapsed on top of them. When they were taken from the trench they were dead. They had suffocated.
The subcontractor who was in charge of the trench, Mr Peter Drennan, of Coolkerrigan, Naas, was accused of "reckless endangerment" under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, and was given an 18-month prison term, suspended on him entering a bond to keep the peace for three years. He was also fined £7,000 for breaches of health and safety legislation.
The driver of the digger, Mr Sam Hillis of Mylerstown, Robertstown, Co Kildare was fined £1,000 on one count of failing to comply with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989. All pleaded guilty. Judge Groarke said the evidence established safety on the site was " very much dealt with on an ad-hoc basis" and there was "casual regard" for safety. He said "there was carelessness of an extreme nature" and he could not ignore that, as a consequence, two men died".
He said there was a compulsory obligation on the construction company to provide side supports for a trench which was more than 1.25 metres deep. This trench was between 3.1 and 3.3 metres deep.
"That being so, there was utter disregard by all" to ensure this "most basic standard" was complied with, Judge Groarke said. The judge said the evidence was that the equipment to provide the support for the trench, in the form of a trench box, was on site. "If that is so that aggravates the matter considerably." He said employees of Roseberry Construction had pointed out to Mr Drennan "once if not twice" that supports should be put in place but it did not happen. "That suggests to me a recklessness of an extreme nature."
If Mr Drennan had hesitated for a moment he would have seen the gross recklessness of what he was doing. He didn't know whether it was "because he was too careless, heedless or too mean", the judge said.
He accepted the company now had a safety officer and that all defendants were remorseful. However, he said certain aspects of Mr McIntyre's statement were "somewhat unsettling". This was a part which suggested the reason for the breach was because he was so busy. Mr Drennan told the court his company became insolvent after the accident.