Kildare business owners fined €175,000 after worker’s fatal fall from height

8th May 2024

Today, Wednesday 8th May, Judge Martina Baxter as Naas Circuit Court fined a business property owner and business operator €125,000 and €50,000, respectively, after fatal incident on work site.

Both business owners had earlier pleaded guilty to charges in breach of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

The case involved, a sole trader, who was contracted in March 2019, to repair the gutters and roofs at an industrial premises at Barrowford, Monasterevin Road, Athy, County Kildare. The contractor then fell from an improvised working platform and later died in hospital due to the injuries sustained.

It was found that the business operatorhad failed to discharge his duty as a person who had control to any extent of a non-domestic place of work that was made available as a place of work to persons other than your employees contrary to Section 15(1 and 3) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and S77(2)(a).

The second business operator linked to the site was also found to have failed to identify hazards in a place of work, assess the risks presented by those hazards and be in a possession of a written statement of such risks contrary to Section 19(1) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and S77(2)(a).

Mark Cullen, Assistant Chief Executive, HSA said

“the well-known hazards of working at height were not risk assessed in this case and it led to the tragic death of a worker. This fatal incident was preventable. We urge everyone planning work at height to carry out the appropriate risk assessments and to put in place measure to ensure the safety of workers.”

ENDS