Esker Readymix fined €100,000 following death of worker

Quarry and concrete company prosecuted following death of worker at a concrete manufacturing premises

ESKER Readymix ULC, a quarry and concrete manufacturing company headquartered in Athenry, Co. Galway, have been fined €100,000 plus costs of €12,939 by Galway Circuit Court. The prosecution arose following the death of a worker who died at the scene when he was knocked down in the yard of the company’s concrete manufacturing plant in Athenry, in September 2020.

Esker Readymix ULC pleaded guilty to one count of failing to ensure that appropriate traffic rules were drawn up and followed when work equipment, a loading shovel, was in use at the place of work where pedestrians were also moving – a breach of Regulation 41(a) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work General Application Regulations, 2007, contrary to section 77(2)(c) of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005.

Mark Cullen, assistant chief executive of the Health and Safety Authority, said: ‘Vehicles in the workplace, particularly heavy vehicles and machinery, pose a serious hazard to anyone working in their vicinity. Employers should endeavour to segregate pedestrian and vehicular movements. It is incumbent upon all managers and duty-holders to ensure a risk assessment for the work activity has been undertaken and that the appropriate control measure have been implemented.’