Contractors fined €55k after man’s death

TWO contractors were yesterday fined a total of €55,000 after pleading guilty to breaches of the safety regulations arising from the death of one man and injuries to another in a building site accident in Kenmare, Co Kerry.

The Circuit Criminal Court, in Tralee, was told how father-of-three Michael Burns, aged 57, of Tahilla, Sneem, Co Kerry, was cleaning pipes and bending down in a deep trench on October 26, 2005, when the side of the trench collapsed.

He was hit on the chest by the side of the fence and his body was covered. He died from asphyxia and other injuries. A workmate, Tomasz Ciolek, from Poland, was on the far side of the trench and his legs were trapped and crushed by the falling material. Judge Carroll Moran said the fines should not be seen as a measure of the value of the life that had been lost.