Construction firm fined £68k after worker's death

An Irish construction firm has been fined £68,000 after one of its drivers died from severe brain trauma four years ago.

South Midland Construction Company, based in Finglas, Dublin, had already pleaded guilty in March this year to breaching health and safety regulations in relation to the incident in Blanchardstown on 23 November 2002.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard thsi week that Michael Murphy, employed by the company as a grab lorry driver since 1998, died after the grab bucket of the lorry crane swung around and crushed his head.

Health and safety inspector Martin O’Dea told prosecuting counsel, Patrick McGrath, that investigations into Murphy’s death reavealed that sensors in the lorry that would have stopped the bucket from coming into the vicinity of Murphy were not present on the machine.

O’Dea added that the location of the wacker-compactor, which he was going to unload using the lorry crane, also contributed to the accident as it had been too near the lorry from which Murphy was operating the crane.

O’Dea’s investigations further revealed that there were features in the Epsilon Palfinger E93 itself which contributed to the accident, including a lack of proper instruction manual relating to the sensors and the guards protecting the operation area not being high enough.

The safety hooks on the chain to the grab bucket had also been removed deliberately for use in other operations and had accelerated the movement which caused the grab bucket to hit Murphy.

Judge Michael White noted that since the accident SMC has taken substantial matters to modify the faulty system that was in operation on the day of his accident.

The court also heard that SMC is currently in the process of building a state of the art hi-tech health and safety training school for the company’s employees and other companies in the industry.