[ad_1]
A TRANSPORTATION COMPANY whose failure to comply with health and safety laws resulted in a fatal workplace accident in which an experienced welder died has been fined € 850,000.
James Byrne was killed instantly on June 6, 2018, when a 20-foot steel column fell on him shortly after he had been using a blowtorch to separate it from a larger metal structure.
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) conducted an investigation, which subsequently brought charges against Doyle Shipping Group Unlimited with an address at Ocean Pier, Alexandra Road, Dublin 1.
The company pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for failing to manage work activities, specifically the dismantling of a steel hopper at McKearns Yard on Ocean Pier, in order to ensure the safety and health of employees, such as as a result of which Mr. Byrne suffered personal injuries and died.
In sentencing today, Judge Pauline Codd said the employer violated its obligation to ensure that employees are not taking unnecessary risks. He said the absence of task planning meant that the equipment was not used as it should have been.
Judge Codd said the case was compounded by the death and devastating effect of this loss on the victim’s family, the risk being “obvious” and “significant”, the excessive dependence on an employee effectively left to assess the risks he himself and he did not make sure that equipment was used to secure the columns.
He placed the offense in the middle of the midrange for offenses of this nature. He said that in the absence of mitigation, the appropriate fine would be 1.5 million euros.
Judge Codd said that mitigating factors in this case were the guilty plea, cooperation with the investigation, a good safety record and lack of prior convictions, “significant spending” to ensure this does not happen again, and the remorse shown for continuing. to pay the victim’s salary.
He said the appropriate sentence in this case was a fine of 850,000 euros.
It will never be the same
Speaking on behalf of the deceased’s family outside the Criminal Justice Courts building after the sentence was passed, Byrne’s partner, Paula Murray, said their lives would never be the same again, as “we feel that a part of us ”.
Murray said his partner was “a father, a partner, a brother, an uncle, a best friend and a mentor.” She said she had a smile that “would light up any room she walked into”.
“We as a family will never get over the loss of James,” Murray said. “He will never be replaced and will always be in our hearts.”
Murray described his partner as “highly skilled” and “hard-working” who loved his job. He said he hoped nothing like this would happen to any other family.
“I never want a family to go through what we’ve been through,” Murray said.
At a previous sentencing hearing, the court heard that this steel hopper is a large metal construction larger than a typical house and is used in unloading grain from ships. Byrne had been tasked with the job of dismantling the hopper in the shipping yard and had been doing it since April 2018.
HSA inspector Frank Kearns told the court that Byrne was an experienced welder and had dismantled a different hopper in Drogheda and then rebuilt it in Dublin.
The day before the accident, he had dismantled two 6m stud support bars, or struts, from a 10m by 10m metal lattice. The next day he was working on a third stud and had to use a torch to cut the part of the bar welded to the grate.
No news is bad news
Support the magazine
your contributions help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you
Support us now
Kearns said he assumed he “thought that would allow him to safely take him down.” The court heard that when Byrne stood up and was walking toward his truck when the column fell and struck him.
The inspector told the court that the weight of the bar “could not be supported by what was left of the frame.” Several coworkers ran to the scene and tried to lift the bar, but were unable to do so.
The HSA investigation found that the method used to dismantle the bars had forced Byrne to work in “a danger zone.”
Kearns said it would have required more than one man to do the job safely and the decommissioning was later completed with three men.
Byrne died as a result of catastrophic internal injuries, including injuries to the heart.
Shane Murphy SC, in defense, told the court that the company was stunned by the death. He said Byrne was a highly valued and respected employee and considered a person of immense experience.
He said a verbal plan for dismantling the hopper was put in place. He said there was “an element of mystery” as to how the column came to fall directly and so “quickly” on Byrne.
He said the company has since invested heavily to ensure an accident never happens again, including purchasing a crane simulator to train staff in the use of cranes and starting a system of weekly safety management meetings.
He said that as a sign of the esteem that the father of two children was held, the company continued to pay his salary and overtime to his partner.
[ad_2]