In court

Manufacturing company fined €500k after fatal accident at quarry

Alison Fava

A manufacturer of concrete and quarry stone products in the Republic of Ireland has been fined €500,000 for three breaches of health and safety legislation.

The prosecution followed a fatal accident on 11 June  2015 at Carrowscoilta Quarry, Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo. An employee of the company, Mr. Joseph Harrington, was fatally injured when he fell into an inadequately guarded stone crusher at the quarry operated by Harrington Concrete (no relation) and Quarries ULC.

Harrington Concrete and Quarries ULC had earlier pleaded guilty to three offences under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, namely failure to:

• Adequately guard the crusher and the area around it;
• Ensure there were safe systems in place to unblock the crusher;
• Ensure the safety statement contained safe operating procedures and instructions for the operation of the crusher.

Mark Cullen, Assistant Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority said: “It is vital that employers ensure that they provide safe plant and machinery and that there are appropriate safe systems of work in place designed to protect their employees. Furthermore, such measures should be specified in the company safety statement. The failures that contributed to this incident are clear and the consequences for Mr Harrington and his family were tragic.”

Related Topics