Covid having serious impact on Mallow Search and Rescue Unit’s finances
UNIT CHAIR ALSO CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION ON SPIRALLING INSURANCE COSTS FOR VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY GROUPS
THE recent missing person search along the River Blackwater has served to highlight the importance of search and rescue units and the key role they play in assisting the emergency services during operations of this kind.
Run on a voluntary basis, these units receive little or no statutory funding, relying almost exclusively on fundraising events, donations from the public and the money members spend from their own coffers to remain operational.
Like so many other voluntary organisations they have been hit hard by the Covid pandemic, with the cancellation of fundraising events meaning a key source of their income has dried up. As a result they are left with no option but to dig into their often meagre reserves and when they run dry members cover the costs of remaining operations from their own pockets.
In north Cork we are fortunate to have two units, the Fermoy-based Blackwater Search and Rescue Unit and the Mallow Search and Rescue Unit.
In the second of a two-part series we speak to John Woulfe, chair of the Mallow Search and Rescue Unit about the difficulties they have faced over the past year and what the future may hold for them.
Mr Woulfe said the cancellation of fundraising activities over the past 12-months has seen the unit lose up to 50 per cent of its normal annual income, putting increase pressure on already stretched resources.
“Typically, its costs between €50k - €60k a year to run the unit. Funding is always an issue, but not being able to hold fundraisers such as our annual raft run or church-gate collections has made things a lot tougher,” said John.
He said that while donations from local businesses and individuals have helped the unit ‘ tick-over”, the Covid situation has dramatically highlighted the need for units such as the Mallow one to be given some form of State funding.
“There is a strong case for us to get some form of annual grant to help cover our running costs, particularly when you consider the work we do saves the Government a fortune each year. We have the Coast Guard and the RNLI, but they have a predominantly rescue role. On the other hand, our role is mainly a recovery one,” said John.
“We do have some financial reserves built up over the years bolstered by some funding under the Permanent TSB Community Fund initiative, but we are dipping into this and it won’t last forever. There is no Plan B in terms of finances for us, so when we can’t fundraise it becomes a major problem.”
In addition to the cost of maintaining equipment and travelling to missions across the country, one of the biggest financial milestones around the unit is its annual insurance bill, which can run to more than €15k per year.
“We have to cover for equipment and vehicles, public liability and, for some reason, employee liability although we technically do not have any employees because we are a volunteer run operation,” said John.
He pointed out that insurance premiums keeping rising each year, repeating a call he has made before on numerous occasions for more to be done to tackle the spiralling insurance costs.
“This year we have already shelled out more than €9k on insurance. The other day we were quoted €3,600 for one policy, up from €2,100 last year It seems the insurance companies have a cosy cartel and can do what they want, regardless of the impact this having on community and voluntary groups across the country,” said John.
“The Government has to step in and take action to ensure these bodies and small enterprises can get fair and equitable insurance rates so they can maintain services and remain financially viable entities. Particularly in these Covid times,” he added.
Despite the financial headache facing the unit John said it will keep doing what it does best, bringing closure to families across the country through its recovery operation.
“For us it is not so much about the money. We have been broke before and managed to keep going with members covering their own costs. That said, the current situation with Covid is unlike anything we have experienced before. We are in a good position for this year but the longer this goes on the more pressure we will be under,” said John.
“How that will impact us in the long run only time will tell.”
A NORTH Cork plant-hire firm has been fined €80,000 and ordered to pay over €10,000 in costs after the company was convicted of failing to maintain proper safety standards when one of its employees was struck by an excavator and ended up losing his leg.
Tom Lynes Plant Hire Ltd of Cecilstown, Mallow, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to failing to ensure the safety of its employees by failing to have in place an exclusion order around works that the company was carrying out at Ballyellis, Mallow, on July 20, 2018.
The charge, which is contrary to Health and Safety legislation, further stated that, as a consequence of the company failing to have an exclusion order in place to separate pedestrians from operational vehicles, employee Nicholas Geaney had suffered injury.
Tom Lynes Plant Hire Ltd also pleaded guilty to a second breach of Health and Safety legislation in that it failed to ensure that Nicholas Geaney was in possession of a valid Safety Awareness Registration Card when engaged by the company in operating a mulching machine.
Health and Safety Authority Inspector Frances Murphy told the court that the company was carrying out clearance work at a private house at Ballyellis, Mallow, removing trees and bushes to allow the owner to run some overhead power lines underground.
The larger trees were removed from the site, but the smaller trees and bushes were being fed into a mulching machine by Mr Geaney and a work colleague, while two other men were involved in the operation of an excavator which was digging up earth.
She told the court that Mr Geaney was to the back or the side of the excavator and never heard or saw it approach as it reversed, and his left leg got caught beneath one of its tracks.
When he was freed, he was rushed to Cork University Hospital, but he lost the leg from below the knee.
Mr Geaney was not wearing a high visibility vest at the time, and he also suffered from a hearing impairment, which may have affected his ability to hear the excavator approach him as he worked on the mulching machine with his colleague, the court heard.
Ms Murphy confirmed Tom Lynes Plant Hire Ltd had no previous convictions for breaches of health and safety legislation, while she accepted a submission from defence counsel, Tom Creed SC that the company had a general safety statement, even though Mr Geaney did not have a Safety Pass.
Ms Murphy also accepted a submission from Mr Creed that
Mr Geaney was working there on a casual basis, having been hired in this instance just the day before to help with clearance work after Mr Lynes had offered him a few days’ work.
Mr Creed SC said that Mr Geaney was taken on a casual basis by Tom Lynes, and the previous day they had cut the trees when the larger trees were removed off site, and Mr Geaney and a colleague were feeding the small trees and bushes into a mulching machine.
Mr Geaney wasn’t in court for the case, but a victim-impact statement was read into evidence on his behalf, in which he outlined how the injury had changed his life completely both in terms of his ability to work and his ability to relax and enjoy leisure pursuits.
“My life is destroyed forever more. I cannot work anymore. I used to do odd days for farmers, fencing and washing sheds, and cannot do this now...I often feel down because of what happened to me,” said Mr Geaney, a middle-aged man who lives in nearby Ballyclough.
“My cycling career is over. I cannot go on long cycles. I used to do the Ring of Kerry and Ring of Beara every year. I used to meet friends the night before and the night after and cannot do this anymore. Cycling was my favourite hobby, and I really miss it,” he added.
Mr Creed said his client, who knew Mr Geaney well and was giving him a few days’ work on the occasion, apologised to him and was extremely sorry for what happened. Tom Lynes Plant Hire Ltd was fully insured to meet the civil case arising out of the accident, he said.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said Mr Geaney and his work colleagues were involved in a straightforward operation of clearing trees and shrubs and mulching them, but it needed proper supervision, given there was also an excavator working near them at the site.
”It was a straightforward operation but one that needs a fair amount of supervision, particularly when you have an excavator and a mulching machine operating without a proper demarcation between them. Supervision is so fundamental and basic, and it was not here.
“The excavator and the mulcher were in close proximity without any regard for movements and dangers. It was eminently avoidable by basic oversight, instruction and supervision, but that was completely missing in this case.
“The employer must have been aware of Mr Geaney’s hearing difficulty, but no effort was made to deal with that on the plan, and there was a complete lack of supervision. This accident could have been avoided but I accept what was said that he has no previous infractions.”
Judge Ó Donnabháin said the accident had a catastrophic effect on Mr Geaney’s life, losing his left leg below the knee, and while he had received a prosthetic leg, it was taking him time to try and adjust to what had happened to him.
Hearing that Tom Lyne Plant Hire Ltd has around 30 employees and a pre- COVID annual turnover of €3million, with profits of around 10 per cent, Judge Ó Donnabháin fined the company €80,000 and ordered it to pay €10,200 in costs.
Judge Ó Donnabháin gave the company 12 months to pay over the monies.