'Banging and clattering' from loose manhole covers a serious health and safety issue in Cork

Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll said many of his constituents in West Cork were continually complaining they could not sleep at night because of the noise from the 'banging and clattering' caused when vehicles drive over loose manhole covers. Picture: Andrew Harris

The number of broken, subsiding, and rattling manhole covers has become such a serious health and safety problem in Co Cork that the local authority is to raise it with utility companies at a national forum.

The lack of proper maintenance and repairs is causing an increase in pedestrians getting trip injuries, damage to cars and keeping householders awake at night when trucks rattle over them.

According to senior county council officials, it “continues to be a challenging issue" and is "a big problem countywide with all utilities".

The issue was raised by Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath at a meeting in County Hall.

Mr McGrath said he, like councillors from all over the county, was getting almost daily complaints about utilities not addressing these issues.

He said about a month ago a woman contacted him after suffering “a very nasty fall” as a result of tripping on one which was not flush with the footpath she was walking on.

Carrigaline-based Mr McGrath said a month on, the utility responsible — which he did not name — had still not fixed the problem.

“This is now a serious health and safety issue right across the whole of our county. The council is often in the firing line for this when it isn’t our fault at all. However, even though they are owned by a utility, if there was a compensation case, I could see the council getting dragged into it because it could be on a public footpath or road,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll said many of his constituents in West Cork were continually complaining they could not sleep at night because of the noise from the “banging and clattering” caused when vehicles drive over loose manhole covers.

Fianna Fáil councillor Gearóid Murphy, who is based in the Mallow area, said he had had similar complaints and in many cases these issues were not addressed for months at a time.

Wheelchair-users getting stuck

Fine Gael councillor Kay Dawson, who lives in Mitchelstown, said she had come across cases where wheelchair-users were getting stuck due to subsiding covers. “This poses a huge problem for them,” she said.

“There should be an obligation on all utility companies to have manhole covers flush with the road of footpath,” Midleton-based Fine Gael councillor Susan McCarthy added.

James Fogarty, the council’s deputy chief executive, admitted “it is a big problem countywide with all utilities” and promised it would be addressed.

Ger Barry, a senior official in the council’s roads directorate, said in a report that: "The management and maintenance of third-party chambers and associated ironwork by certain utility companies continues to be a challenging issue for Cork County Council staff considering our extensive network of roads."

The county has 425km of national roads and 11,739km of regional and local roads.

He pointed out the Department of Transport developed a document setting out the legal framework relating to powers of road authorities and statutory authorities in opening or forming openings in public roads.

This document prescribes precise standards and obligations for utilities in respect of the chamber covers and associated ironwork.

Mr Barry said the county council was reviewing the problem and would arrange to highlight it at the national Joint Utility Local Authority Forum at its next meeting in September.