Flaws in scaffold could have led to casualties
Judge Patrick J Moran noted from evidence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that serious difficulties were found in the scaffold.
It was erected in an 8-metre deep excavation in August 2009 at 12 Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork, where a building was to be constructed.
Daniel Kelleher, aged 43, of Bishopsgate, Watergrass-hill, Co Cork, pleaded guilty as a director on behalf of defendant company KSD Construction Services Ltd and one count on his own behalf.
Health and safety inspector Michael Flynn said there was no accident or complaint and that the issues with the scaffold came to light on an unannounced spotcheck.
Mr Flynn said there were scaffolds in four locations on the site and there were difficulties at each location.
“It was very, very serious. Workers were working below and had a collapse occurred there could have been fatalities,” he said.
The four counts under the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act were for: not having adequate anchoring, stabilising mechanisms or facade bracing; that the scaffold structure was unstable and the working platform was too narrow; inadequate bracing against wall and inadequate platforms; and another count of inadequate bracing.
Judge Moran imposed four €10,000 fines and €4,500 costs against KSD, described as presently being a paper company which is not trading.
Mr Kelleher pleaded guilty in his own name as director to one charge which effectively included all of the breaches referred to in counts one to four against the company. A €400 fine was imposed.
Donal O’Sullivan, defence barrister, said the defendant had been in banking for 14 years and was asked to become administrative manager of KSD. “His job was on the administrative and financial side. He got a basic scaffolding qualification and he went from site to site to quote for contracts and get the requirements for jobs,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
“He relied on another man who had expertise in scaffolding. [Mr Kelleher] should not have been running a scaffolding company in the absence of specific knowledge. He should have known better.”
Mr Kelleher no longer works in the area, having returned to the financial sector.
