Shipping firm fined € 850k after worker killed on site
Judge said company failed safety obligation to victim
A SHIPPING firm whose health and safety breaches resulted in a worker’s death has been fined € 850,000.
James Byrne was killed instantly on June 6, 2018, when a six- metre steel column fell on top of him.
The Health and Safety Authority brought charges against the Doyle Shipping Group Unlimited of Ocean Pier, Alexandra Road, Dublin.
At the city’s Circuit Criminal Court it admitted failing to safely manage work activities, specifically the dismantling of a steel hopper.
Judge Pauline Codd s a i d t h e e m p l o y e r breached its obligation to ensure employees are not put at unnecessary hazard. She said the case was aggravated by there being a fatality and the devastating effect of this loss on the victim’s family,.
The judge said the case was also made worse by the risk being “obvious” and “significant”, the over reliance on one employee effectively left to assess ri sks himself and the failure to ensure equipment was utilized to secure the columns.
Mr Byrne’s si st er Rachel read out a victim impact statement on behalf of the family in which she described the devastation her brother’s death has wrought on everyone.
She said his parents were inconsolable, and said “nothing can fill the hole in their hearts”.
Ms Byrne added: “We all think about him every day. No words can express the pain,” Judge Codd placed the offence as in the middle of the mid- range for offending of this nature. She said in the absence of mitigation the appropriate fine would be one of € 1.5million.
Judge Codd said the mitigating factors were the guilty plea, the co- operation with the i nquir y, t he good safety record and lack of previous convictions, the “significant expenditure” to ensure this does not happen again and the remorse shown by continuing to pay the victim’s salary.
Defence Counsel Shane Murphy said he was instructed by his client to apologise to the family for their sorrow and the role it played in Mr Byrne’s death.