Company guilty for lift crash

DEFUNCT ENGINEERING FIRM FOUND IN BREACH OF SAFETY REGULATIONS

A NOW defunct engineering company has been found guilty of breaching safety regulations when it installed a hotel lift that collapsed in 2011, seriously injuring five people.

On July 9, 2011, five members of the Meehan family from Ratoath in Meath were at a family wedding in the Killarney Plaza Hotel when a lift they entered suffered a “catastrophic” malfunction, and plunged four floors into the hotel’s underground car park.

The company who installed the lift, Ellickson Engineering Ltd from Waterford, was tried at Tralee Circuit Court last week on foot of an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority.

Ellickson Engineering, who installed the lift in 2004, were charged with failure to ensure the lift was safe and failure to install a safe electrical system.

The company, which was placed in receivership under Grant Thornton in August 2011, was not represented in court.

As the firm was a limited company, Prosecutor Tom Rice said that the case could proceed in the absence of the defendant as though the company had entered a ‘not guilty’ plea.

During the three-day trial the five injured family members described the horrific accident.

Paul Meehan described the accident as “like living through a horror movie” and said his life had flashed before his eyes .

The court heard that the three Meehan brothers – Paul, Kevin and Andrew and two of their wives – heard a straining noise after they entered the lift which then dropped a few feet.

There was then a loud bang and the lift went into freefall, hitting the ground four storeys below.

The court heard that staff at the hotel were initially unaware of the accident and it was 15 minutes before someone arrived to help and the doors of the shattered elevator were prised open.

It was another hour before ambulances arrived and the court heard one of the injured had to be cut free from the wreckage.

The family suffered serious injuries including crushed, broken and dislocated bones, severe lacerations and broken vertebrae.

After an hour’s deliberation the jury returned a guilty verdict on Friday.

Judge Tom O’Donnell – who commended the Meehan family for their resilience – adjourned sentencing until April 3 to allow the prosecution time to assess what assets the company has to pay any fine that may be imposed.