COMPANY FINED AFTER WORKER LOSES LEG IN ACCIDENT
EMPLOYEE (28) WAS NORMALLY OFFICE BASED AND USUALLY INVOLVED IN SALES AND JOINED THE CRANE INSTALLATION CREW ON THE DAY.
AN accident which took place in the yard of a Sligo factory and resulted in a 28- year-old man having to have his leg amputated, could have been prevented, Sligo Circuit Criminal Court has heard. Kevin O’Malley, an employee of Jackson Engineering, Castlebar Ltd, had to have his right leg amputated after it was crushed when a 100kg section of a crane fell on him in the yard of the Bruss GmBH factory, Finisklin Road, Sligo in 2018.
Jackson Engineering Ltd was before the court charged with six counts relating to being in breach of statutory and regulatory provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, and as a consequence a person suffered personal injury.
Company joint director, Irene Jackson, pleaded guilty to two offences and the other matters were taken into consideration.
The court was told the company, which describes itself as a ‘Heavy Lifting Solutions Provider’, was contracted by Bruss to install a crane at the Finisklin Road site on September 1st, 2018 when the accident took place.
The court was told the accident was a result of Jackson Engineering’s failure to ensure that the lifting operations involved in the movement and attachment of a jib section of the crane, to a jib handler of a forklift truck were not planned appropriately, supervised and carried out to protect the safety of employees, and in particular, there was no lifting operations planned appropriately in relation to people working in the vicinity of the jib section which was unsupported, and as a result fell on Mr O’Malley.
As a result of, Judge Francis Comerford convicted the company for the breach of the regulatory provision and fined them €30,000, plus costs of €3,833.15 to the HSA.
Brian McHugh, inspector with the Health and Safety Authority told the court three men were responsible for the installation of the crane, Mr O’Malley, John Joe Murray and Raymond Mayock. They were all either full or part time employees of the defendant company.
Mr McHugh launched an investigation on October 1st, 2018 and had been notified Mr O’Malley had to have his leg amputated as a result of the accident.
Mr Leo Mulrooney, state prosecutor, instructed by state solicitor, Ms Elisa McHugh outlined that the two other men, Mr Murray and Mr Mayock, mistakenly thought Mr O’Malley was the foreman on the day, when in fact it was Mr O’Malley’s first time being on a site and he had only recently completed his Safe Pass.
Mr O’Malley was usually involved in sales, ordering products and was office-based. He joined the crew for the installation because another employee dropped out and he had been the person who priced the contract. It was the first time the other two men had worked with him.
The court was told Mr O’Malley was tasked with putting together a method statement for the installation of the crane, to outline how the work would be carried out safely.
He had not developed one of these before, but was made aware the company had installed a crane at Bruss in 2015 and a method statement was on file for that. He was told by joint director, Stanley Jackson to use this as a template. The dates and times were amended on the document.
Bruss came back to the company with several amendments to the document, focusing on the impact on its place of work, overhead services, clearances, etc.
Asked if Bruss questioned details regarding the lifting plan, Mr McHughe clarified this would be out of the company’s remit, and the company would only be looking at the plan in relation to how it would impact the factory’s functioning.
The men discussed the job on the way to the site and the method statement was signed.
The area was given over to them by Bruss and the tower area of the crane was installed without incident, but, in the factory yard the jib section, a 7.3metre steel section was left free standing for two minutes in a vertical position while alignments were being made and plastic wrapping was being removed from another section.
The jib section is the horizontal or near-horizontal beam used in many types of cranes to support the load clear of the main support.
The jib section fell over and trapped Mr O’Malley’s legs. He had been standing behind the highest point of it.
In a witness statement from John Joe Murray, the part time employee of Jackson Engineering, with 30 years experience, said Mr O’Malley was the foreman. He said an L shaped section of steel was laid flat, and plastic was being unwrapped.
He said the jib section was then lifted away from the storage area by a forklift with two straps and Mr Mayock drove the forklift. The forks were raised high enough and the heel of the jib lifted off ground over the concrete yard, the forks were lowered, and the section was left in a vertical position and the forklift straps were allowed to go slack to measure the jib handler.
Mr Murray stated he thought it was in a stable position. The straps were hanging loose, not providing security. Mr O’Malley was standing near the heel section of the jib.
Mr Murray said he walked between the jib and forklift, and measured the jib handler. He looked back at the jib, it appeared to be fine, but then he heard a shout and saw the jib had fallen over and fell on Mr O’Malley, trapping his legs.
Raymond Mayock, a general operative and forklift operator, employed with Jackson Engineering for four years detailed in his witness statement that he was told about the job a week
prior, by director, Stanley Jackson. He had not worked with Mr O’Malley before and was of the understanding he was the foreman.
He said the jib appeared to be stable and his colleagues were removing plastic and when he was readying a second forklift he noticed the jib started to fall and fell on Mr O’Malley’s legs.
According to Mr McHugh, what seemed to have gone wrong was the misunderstanding that Mr O’Malley was the foreman on the day.
“There was not a detailed discussion of how crane components would be lifted. Mr O’Malley looked to the others for experience. Part of what went wrong seems to be Mr Murray and Mr Mayock thought Mr O’Malley was the foreman.”
Mr McHugh told the court Jackson Engineering provided the HSA with safety documents for the project and the remedial lifting plan that was adopted since the accident.
Asked why the jib was put vertically on the ground, Mr McHugh said the straps had to be adjusted wide enough for clearance of the jib handler, meaning things had to be aligned and measured before components could be put into place, and also, plastic wrapping had to be cleared. Mr O’Malley also provided the HSA with a statement and outlined that it was his first installation job and because he priced the job he probably was seen as the supervisor. He said he was in a position to move the straps as needed when the section started to wobble. He suffered a severe crush to his right leg, which resulted in it having to be amputated from above the knee.
Mr Mulrooney put it to Mr McHugh that nothing had caused the jib to fall and that the position it was left in was ‘inherently unsafe’, to with the HSA inspector agreed.
Health and Safety Officer with Bruss confirmed to the HSA she received a safety statement, risk assessment sheet, training records and method statement before the job.
Dr William Curtain, surgeon, confirmed Mr O’Malley had suffered a crush injury and a high grade fracture to his leg. Surgery was performed to save the leg, however, as the leg was not viable it had to be amputated from above the knee. He had two further surgeries. His left leg was also badly injured and needed plates, which made learning to walk difficult. Mr O’Malley settled a civil claim for his injuries against the company in December 2020 for the amount of €1.7 million, the majority of which was paid out by Jackson Engineering Ltd’s insurance. A contribution of approximately €100,000 was made by Bruss. Mr O’Malley received full pay by the company after the accident and subsequently returned to work for them between times of illness and level 5 lockdown.
MR O’MALLEY ALSO PROVIDED THE HSA WITH A STATEMENT AND OUTLINED THAT IT WAS HIS FIRST INSTALLATION JOB AND BECAUSE HE PRICED THE JOB HE PROBABLY WAS SEEN AS THE SUPERVISOR
- BRIAN MCHUGH, INSPECTOR WITH THE HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY TOLD THE COURT