In court

€300k fine after fatal pipeline explosion

Alison Fava

Balfour Beatty CLG Limited has been fined €300,000 at Nenagh Circuit Court for breaching health and safety legislation.

The company had earlier pleaded guilty to a breach of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, namely:  exposing non-employees to risks to their safety, health or welfare contrary to section 12 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and contrary to Section 77(9) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

The prosecution followed a fatal incident that occurred on 27 February 2015 at Carrigatogher, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.  Mr Patrick Horgan, an employee of a company who was subcontracted to Balfour Beatty CLG on the installation of a 400mm gas pipeline from Birdhill to Nenagh, was fatally injured when the pipeline he was working on ruptured while it was under test pressure.

Balfour Beatty CLG Limited had previously pleaded guilty to a single charge in that it had failed to manage and conduct its undertaking in such a way that non-employees were not exposed to risks to their safety in that they failed to ensure that appropriate safety measures or precautions were in place to protect such workers from the dangers created by piping that had been pressurised for testing.

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