Family awarded €800k after death of father in tree-felling

COUNTY COUNCIL WITHDRAWS PARTIAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIM

THE family of a 45 year old Corkman who was killed in a tree felling accident over four years ago has been awarded over €800,000 in damages after the local authority withdrew a partial defence of contributory negligence and accepted full liability for the accident.

Yvonne O’Donovan brought the High Court action against Cork County Council over the death of her husband and father of three, Michael O’Donovan from Killeenleigh, Aghabullogue, who was fatally injured during tree clearing work at Arderrig, Carr’s Hill, Co Cork on November 23, 2012.

Last week at the High Court sitting in Cork, Mr Justice Robert Egar approved a settlement of almost €810,000 for Mrs O’Donovan as he extended his condolences to her and her three children on the loss of her husband and their father in the workplace accident.

Cork County Council had initially argued there had been contributory negligence by Mr O’Donovan which led to criticism by Ms O’Donovan’s counsel, Dr John O’Mahony SC who pointed out that the council had previously pleaded guilty in a criminal court to a breach of health and safety laws.

Following legal discussions, Cork County Council withdrew the partial defence of contributory negligence and Mr Justice Egar ruled on the quantum that was to be paid in settlement to Mrs O’Donovan on her family after hearing details of her husband’s earnings.

He noted that Dr O’Mahony SC had alleged in his opening that Cork County Council had failed to notify her of the fatal accident which claimed her husband’s life but he accepted evidence from the council that showed efforts had been made to contact her about the tragedy.

Mr Justice Egar said he was satisfied from documentary evidence submitted by counsel for Cork County Council, Fergus O’Hagan SC that council official Kevin Walsh had rung both Mrs O’Donovan’s home and a gaelscoil to notify her but both calls rang out and he was unable to contact her.

He approved a settlement of €784,598 in special damages based on actuarial evidence on Mr O’Donovan’s earnings while he also approved an additional €25,000 solatium, or damages for pain and suffering to bring the overall settlement to €809,598.

Mr Justice Egar had earlier heard Dr O’Mahony SC tell how Mr O’Donovan was fatally injured as he was working as part of a county council team engaged in the felling of a Scots Pine tree at Arderrig, Carr’s Hill on November 23rd 2012.

“The felling was careless and reckless. The tree fell in a manner that should have been foreseen. It fell on a cable on a phone line that caused the poll to crack at two points. The pole struck the late Mr O’Donovan on the head causing massive injuries,” said Dr O’Mahony SC.

“He was effectively killed outright at the scene albeit that resuscitative care was provided at the scene. He was clearly in extremis. It was a hopeless case. The late Mr O’Donovan died that day in hospital.

“The system of work was entirely unsafe. He was within 11 feet of the tree which was felled - a most dangerous hazard. He should have been a minimum of 100 feet away. Unfortunately the inevitable happened, the tree fell on the cable cracking the pole and the pole came down on Mr O’Donovan.”

The court heard that Cork County Council was fined €48,000 by Judge Sean O Donnabhain at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in February 2016 after it pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety regulations following Mr O’Donovan’s death.

A month later, in March 2016, a jury at Cork City Coroner’s Court returned a verdict of accidental death at the inquest into Mr O’Donovan’s death and recommended the introduction of statutory guidelines on the felling of trees similar to those in operation in the UK.

These statutory guidelines include imposing an exclusion zone twice the length of the tree, the use of tree felling equipment including winches, ropes and a felling bar as well as full training of all staff involved in the operation to control or reduce risk.

The inquest heard that Mr O’Donovan was working with another council employee, foreman John Sexton, in clearing debris from trees that were being felled by another man, Pat Buttimer, who was working for a contractor hired by the council to clear a way leave over a water pipe to Ringaskiddy.

Mr Buttimer told the inquest that he had cut a notch in a sally tree and then used his back arm, or actor, of a Terex digger to put some pressure on the tree so that it would fall in the right direction but because it was near the road he had to put the back actor pressure on the tree from an angle.

He said that Mr O’Donovan was standing at the front of the digger and he didn’t believe the tree could fall in his direction as the bucket of the digger was up against it. However, while cutting the tree he felt pressure on the tip of the chain saw and realised the tree was starting to twist.

“I saw Michael out of the corner of my eye. He was standing outside the fence looking down at the tree stump. He was not in a position where he would have been protected by the digger. After the tree fell I heard John Sexton shout that Michael was on the ground,” he said.

Mr Sexton told the inquest that when he saw the tree starting to twist he shouted at least three times to Mr O’Donovan to run out of the way but he couldn’t hear him because of the noise from both the chainsaw and the Terex digger.

“The tree fell on the telephone cable and the pole snapped. The next thing I saw was that Michael was on the ground and he was bleeding,” said Mr Sexton, adding that Mr O’Donovan, who wasn’t wearing his helmet, had “got a bang on the head from the telegraph pole and part of it was lying by him”.

Cork County Council Senior Executive Engineer Pat Murphy said that since Mr O’Donovan’s death the council has introduced changes so no member of Cork County Council staff is involved in tree felling and they have introduced UK statutory guidelines on tree felling for all contractors.