A fuel company and an independent safety consultant have been fined a total of £54,000 for health and safety failings which led to the death of 49 year old employee Robert Mark McCarroll in March 2013.
Hayes Fuels and consultant Stanley Gibson were sentenced at Laganside Crown Court after an investigation into the incident by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).
Mr McCarroll was working in a warehouse, operated by Hayes Fuels, where pre-packed fuel products stored on pallets were stacked on top of each other.
The method of stacking used by Hayes Fuels resulted in some of the pallet stacks becoming unstable, and on the day of the incident the system of work involved Mr McCarroll working at the base of these pallets.
One of the pallet stacks fell over, resulting in the product falling on to Mr McCarroll who died two days later from his injuries.
Stanley Gibson, a health and safety consultant engaged to assist Hayes Fuels, had carried out a risk assessment of the area and had identified that there might be an issue with the storage system. However, he failed to complete the assessment and identify the control measures required to prevent material falling from height.
The Health and Safety Executive of Northern Ireland (HSENI) found a number of breaches by Hayes Fuels, including:
Hayes Fuels, Dungannon, Co Tyrone. was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500.
Stanley Gibson, Stanley Gibson Partnership, Belfast was fined £4,000.
Speaking after sentencing Kevin Campbell and inspector with HSENI’s Major Investigation Team said: “This preventable accident caused the needless death of Robert McCarroll and today our thoughts are with his family.
“It is essential that businesses ensure that material is stored properly, and that proper systems are put in place to safely access stored material.
“Businesses and consultants must systematically identify all significant risks and develop appropriate control measures. Tragically, in this case, information that was available was not acted upon.”
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The primary responsibility lies with the employer and those workers who has to work with the risk. Effort needs to be made to address the overall issue. What has been described merely point out to just one particular incidence. The root cause of the problem has not been properly highlighted