A LEADING consulting engineering company has gone on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court arising out of the death of a father of two after a concrete staircase collapsed on him at a city-centre building site.
Hanley Pepper Limited, of Owenstown House, Fosters Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to failing to design a system that was safe and without risk to the public at South Lotts Road, Ringsend, Dublin, on dates between February 1st, and February 28th, 2002.
The charge details that the company failed to put in place an adequate support system for a staircase having regard to the load it was required to bear.
Michael Jackson (33) of Dun Emer Crescent, Rush, Co Dublin, has also pleaded not guilty to the same charge.
Mary Ellen Ring SC, prosecuting, told the jury in outlining the case that the design of brackets to anchor the staircase in the development had been entrusted to Hanley Pepper and to Mr Jackson.
It was contended that the brackets provided were inaccurate and wrong and that the weight placed on them was such that they could not support the staircase fitted.
Ms Ring said that on December 12th, 2002, a number of people had come to the Ringsend site to put in the stairs.
It was then discovered that some of the brackets and anchors of the stairs had come away from the wall.
Some of the stairs had been taken away but a little later work was ordered to restart and in the evening there was a collapse of the stairs and landing, resulting in injuries and in a death.
Ms Ring said the trial was not dealing with the death but with the alleged failure of the company and Mr Jackson to design the brackets properly and that they were responsible for miscalculation and mistake.
Thomas O’Neill, a 31-year-old construction worker from Lucan, died at the scene from crush injuries.
The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury of five women and seven men.