Dismantling firm fined €1,500 for worker death

A DISMANTLING firm was fined €1,500 yesterday for failing to undertake a written risk assessment in a case where a Polish worker was killed.

The worker, Edward Pajaczek, was killed when a five-ton section of a crane crashed down on him as he was dismantling it, a health and safety inspector stated.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin noted Pouladuff Dismantlers Ltd, Cork, had made a risk assessment when a senior member of staff visited the location with the deceased the night before the work was done. In this visit, a verbal risk assessment was made to the extent that the senior staff member and the deceased discussed how the work should be done.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said he concluded from this evidence that the company did make a risk assessment but their offence was that it was verbal in nature and was never reduced to writing.

“That is the nature and extent of the accused company’s involvement. That is the reason for the company’s plea of guilty,” he said.

Joe Murphy, a director of the defendant company, recently signed a plea of guilty on behalf of the company at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to the charge of failing to prepare a written risk assessment before undertaking the job.

They had been contracted to dismantle a fire-damaged crane at Forge Hill, Cork, on April 10, 2010, when the fatal accident occurred.

Donal McCarthy, defending, stressed that the company had made an assessment of the risk beforehand and this was discussed between a senior member of staff and the deceased. He also said that the firm had no previous convictions of any kind in 28 years.

The company is insured to deal with a claim by the deceased’s family and they continued to pay his wages to the family and also paid his funeral expenses. So far they have paid €25,000 to the deceased’s family, Judge Ó Donnabháin was told.