Employers pay enormous price for workplace safety failures

Dublin, Ireland. 18 July 2023 - Two Irish businesses have received heavy penalties following workplace accidents that led to fatalities.

Paul Logan, Health & Safety Operations Manager at Peninsula Ireland, looks at what went wrong, and the health & safety lessons employers should take away from these two cases.

Custodial sentence for unsafe use of telehandler

Clonmel Circuit Court handed down a 12-month prison sentence to an employer who pleaded guilty to breaching the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007.

This case involved a workplace accident that took place on a farm, involving the use of a telehandler. The telehandler was being used to carry out work when it went out of control and overturned. One employee suffered fatal injuries with another employee suffering a serious injury.

Evidence collected indicated that the employer and owner of the telehandler failed to manage the work activities in a way that complied with their statutory duty to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the safety, health, and welfare of his employees. In addition, the post-accident evaluation revealed that the telehandler itself was not properly maintained and was in a dangerous condition. There were mechanical risks around the cab door, seatbelt, brakes, and accelerator cable.

Paul says: “This decision highlights the importance of minimising the risks around working with machinery in the workplace.

“Employers have a duty to take all reasonable measures to ensure the safety of their staff and where machinery is being used, the employer’s duty requires them to maintain all machinery to a standard that allows employees to operate it safely.

“A risk assessment may be seen as a form filling exercise but where work involving machinery is concerned, it really is a matter of life and death. Employers should carry out thorough risk assessments before the work begins and implement any appropriate control measures to minimise the impact of any risks and ultimately avoid preventable workplace incidents.”

*Working at height risk assessments *

Two weeks prior to the decision of Clonmel Circuit Court, the Dublin Circuit Court handed down a €750,000 fine to an engineering firm who had pleaded guilty to a number of offences under the Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 in connection with failing to prevent a workplace fatality.

The employee in this case was surveying a premises when he stepped on a fragile surface on the sixth floor of the building. The fragile surface concealed a vertical service duct which gave way and the worker fell from height.

Paul says: “This decision highlights the importance of a specific risk assessment for work carried out at height. If an employer knows that a role involves working at height, they have a statutory duty to ensure that appropriate precautions are in place to address that specific risk.

“Best practice health and safety measures protect both business owners and their staff. When the work involved is high risk, employers need to be particularly meticulous around carrying out appropriate risk assessments, engaging with staff on how to reduce any risks identified and putting appropriate control measures in place.

“These preventative measures protect employees and any third parties who may be working at the site. As these two recent decisions demonstrate, failure to implement proper health and safety management poses real risks to the lives of employees and the future of any business that suffers a workplace fatality.”

--ENDS—

Contact Miriam Payne – Associate Director of Group PR and Comms T: 01 264 6389 | E. [email protected]