Two probes into farm accident death

Two separate investigations are under way following the death of a man in a farmplace accident in north Cork.

Gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) are both conducting inquiries into the circumstance surrounding the death of Michael Mackessey, 47, a single man from Kiltoohig, in Charleville, on Monday night.

Mr Mackessey was working under a horse box, which had been raised up on a jack, in a workshop on the family farm.

He was last seen at 7pm, but when he hadn’t returned to the farmhouse he shared with his mother and brother by 9.50pm, his mother went to look for him.

She found him pinned beneath the horse box which had apparently fallen on him. He had suffered devastating crush injuries.

The alarm was raised immediately and gardaí and paramedics rushed to the scene. Mr Mackesey was removed from under the horse box and received emergency medical treatment at the scene.

But his injuries were so extensive that paramedics were unable to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

His remains were removed to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem examination took place yesterday to establish the exact cause of death.

Gardaí are treating Mr Mackessey’s death as a tragic accident and will prepare a file for the coroner’s court in due course.

The HSA is also investigating the fatality and their conclusions will feed in to the garda file.

Mr Mackessey’s death brings to 14 the number of people to die in farmplace accidents in Ireland so far this year.

There were 48 work-related deaths in Irish workplaces last year, but 21 — almost 44% — of those deaths were farm related, even though the farming sector accounts for about 6% of the working population.

Overall, a farmer is up to eight times more likely to be killed in a work-related accident compared to the general working population.

Older farmers are particularly at risk. Accidents involving farmers over 55 years of age account for about 70% of farm deaths.

Based on HSA analysis, the main causes of death and injury on farms are tractors and machinery (47%), livestock (13%) and falls from a height (12%).