Plant explosion victim continues to fight for his life in hospital

It has emerged that Stryker has refused to engage with the trade union, Siptu, at the Anngrove plant which is now the focus of a major health and safety probe following the accident. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The family of a father of three young children are maintaining a bedside vigil as he fights for his life following the industrial accident at a Stryker plant in Cork.

Calls are mounting for a full safety review of the global medical devices giant's operations in East Cork, following the incident which left the 41-year-old on life support with extensive burns to about 70% of his body.

He was rushed to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, was placed on life support, and transferred later to Dublin for ongoing treatment.

He and another man suffered burn and blast injuries in a mini explosion as they worked on the roof of the Anngrove plant just after 1pm on Tuesday. Employees of external contractors, they were carrying out maintenance or repairs to vents on the roof when the blast occurred.

It has emerged that Stryker has refused to engage with the trade union, Siptu at the Anngrove plant, which is now the focus of a major health and safety probe following the accident.

The company has also effectively ignored two 2019 Labour Court recommendations that it should recognise and engage with the union at its other two plants in East Cork, where Siptu members made a protected disclosure in 2021 in relation to major health and safety concerns.

This is despite the fact the company engages with Siptu at its Limerick facility, and at a recently acquired plant in Macroom, Co Cork, where negotiations on a pay deal concluded earlier this year.

The Irish Examiner has also learned the Labour Court issued a recommendation on Wednesday that the company recognise Siptu as the representative of some 80 staff at the facility where the industrial incident occurred less than 24-hours earlier.

The union has now sought an urgent meeting with Stryker management amid growing calls for a full safety review of the company's operations in East Cork.

Cork East TD Seán Sherlock called on Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who opened a massive extension at the Anngrove facility last year, to intervene.

This is an IDA-backed company. I do believe that the Minister needs to intervene with Stryker to ensure that we can continue to maintain jobs and ensure that workers have a safe working environment."

Siptu took three complaints against Stryker for union representation to the Labour Court — two in 2019 in relation to Stryker’s plants at Tullagreen and Springhill, near Carrigtwohill, and the third earlier this year in relation to the nearby Anngrove plant.

The company did not attend the hearings. The complaints went uncontested.

The Labour Court issued two recommendations in late 2019 that Stryker recognise the union at the Tullagreen and Springhill plants, but there was no official engagement. The protected disclosure about health and safety issues came two years later.

Following the Labour Court's recommendation on Wednesday, Siptu sector organiser Neil McGowan said they have now written to management seeking an urgent meeting to discuss the safety concerns of workers on the three Stryker sites in Carrigtwohill.

The family of the critically injured man, from a well-known family in the Carrigtwohill area of Cork, have asked people to pray for him describing him as “a kind, mild-mannered family man, with a loving wife, a baby, a young child, and a stepson who are his world”.

"His devoted parents, wife and siblings are devastated and keeping vigil at the hospital. Our extended family are heartbroken and feel helpless at the shocking turn of events," they said in a statement to the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork's RedFM.

Operations at Anngrove resumed on Wednesday following an inspection by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). Its probe is expected to focus on the vent and its filters, and on how often they were cleaned or replaced.

Stryker said it is in communication with the families of both injured men, and that its employee assistance programme is available to staff and personnel are on-site to support them.

"We continue to work closely with the HSA as they carry out their investigations into the incident," a spokesperson said.