A West Cork timber company has been fined €90,000 for breaches of health and safety regulations that came to light in the course of an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority into a fatal workplace accident at its yard.
GP Wood, based in Enniskeane in Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court earlier this month to three breaches of Health and Safety legislation that were uncovered during the investigation by the HSA into the death of Pat Lacey (53) at the plant on February 26th, 2019.
Mr Lacey was fatally injured when he was struck by the grab of a Caterpillar wheel loader used to move logs. GP Wood was not charged in relation to his death but with general breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act in relation to the management of operations in the yard.
HSA inspector Frances Murphy said they were notified by GP Wood of the incident on the day it happened, and they began an investigation including viewing CCTV footage from the yard which showed Mr Lacey being struck by a front loader carrying a load of logs in its grab.
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Ms Murphy told the court that the accident occurred as result of the fact that pedestrians were not properly segregated from where the machinery was working in the log storage yard and Mr Lacey was struck by the low loader as he walked across an area where it was being used to collect logs.
Ms Murphy agreed with prosecution counsel, Ray Boland SC that there was a pedestrian area in being at the time of the incident but “there was no signage or yellow hatch markings” to clearly identify it and it seemed whether people used the walkway or not was “a bit ad hoc”.
Defence counsel Tom Creed SC said the company was long established, having been formed from the merger of two family-owned businesses going back over 30 years. It had never previously come to the attention of the HSA.
Ms Murphy agreed with Mr Creed that GP Wood, whom she said co-operated fully with the HSA investigation, did have a traffic management plan in place at the yard but it was more oriented to external trucks delivering logs to the yard than to the operation of the machinery on the site.
Mr Creed said that the company had embarked on a ramping up of safety protocols at the mill after Mr Lacey’s death, engaging a firm of consultants with expertise in traffic management to come up with a plan to segregate pedestrians and machinery working in the yard.
But even prior to the accident the company had put a series of safety measures in place including a designated walkway across the timber yard, but the problem was that the company had failed to ensure employees always used it, he said.
GP Wood had since invested €200,000 worth in infrastructural work on the site.
Compliance manager with GP Wood, Conor McSweeney confirmed to the court that extensive work had taken place to improve safety and that it included a floodlit barriered walkway that is separate from the work area for vehicles such as the Caterpillar log loader.
Judge Helen Boyle heard victim impact statements from Mr Lacey’s three siblings, Caitriona, Carmel, and John in which they spoke of their huge sense of loss following his death and how with his passing, it marked the end of their ties with the family home in Ballineen where they grew up.
Imposing penalty on Friday, Judge Boyle began by extending her sympathies to Mr Lacey’s family on their tragic loss, noting that his death had been hugely felt by his siblings before observing that no fine imposed by the court could equate with the loss of Mr Lacey to his family.
She said that in fairness to the defendant company there was an absence of aggravating factors in the case and that was to the defendant’s credit. “Many of these cases involve companies taking shortcuts to increase their profits – that is not present here,” Judge Boyle said.
She noted there was no reference to the death of Mr Lacey in the charges admitted by GP Wood and in strict legal terms, the charges did not allow for a victim impact statement, but the company said it had no difficulty with Mr Lacey’s siblings presenting victim impact statements to the court.
“It is accepted that the company should have tapped people on the shoulder and ensured they walked in appropriate areas and ensured front loaders were driven in the proper way with the loader down rather than up to ensure (maximum) visibility,” she said.
“This was not a deliberate attempt to get around safety. Nevertheless, companies must ensure the enforcement of Health and Safety statements. Things can get complacent,” she said as she imposed a fine of €90,000 and directed the company to pay the HAS costs of €2,400.
