ICL fined following safety breaches

Irish Cement Ltd fined €225,000 following serious injury to an employee at Platin Works

ON Friday 21 January 2022, at Trim Circuit Court, judge Martina Baxter imposed a fine of €225,000 on Irish Cement Ltd (ICL), following guilty pleas to breaches of the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act 2005.

The case arose following an incident on 17 April 2018 when ICL employee Emmanuel Eldershaw was seriously injured when the articulated tractor and trailer unit he was operating toppled over whilst he was tipping a load in the petroleum coke fuel storage yard at the company’s Platin Works, in Drogheda, Co. Louth.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Authority concluded that all appropriate safety measures were not in place at the time of the incident.

Irish Cement pleaded guilty to Section 15(3) Safety, Health and Work Act 2005 contrary to section 77(9)(a) of the Safety, Health and Work Act 2005 (regarding general duties of persons in control of a place of work to ensure that the place of work, means of access and egress to/from it and any article or substance provided in that place of work are safe and without risk to health) and Section 19(5) Safety, Health and Work Act 2005 contrary to section 77(2)(a) of the Safety, Health and Work Act 2005 (regarding the carrying out of a risk assessment).

Mark Cullen, chief inspector with the Health & Safety Authority, said: ‘This is an unfortunate and serious incident that could have been prevented. Employers should ensure that safe access and egress is provided for plant and equipment being used in the workplace to protect employees and others from the hazard and risks arising from vehicles operating in the workplace.

‘It is of the utmost importance that employers should, where risks have been identified, take the appropriate measures and put in place the control measures to eliminate or reduce the risks identified.’