A recent HSA case has once again demonstrated the importance of pedestrian and traffic management systems in the workplace.
A West Cork timber company has been fined €90,000 for breaches of health and safety regulations that came to light in the course of an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority into a fatal workplace accident at its yard.
The company, based in Enniskeane in Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court earlier this month to three breaches of Health and Safety legislation that were uncovered during the investigation by the HSA into the death of Pat Lacey (53) at the plant on February 26th, 2019.
Mr Lacey was fatally injured when he was struck by the grab of a Caterpillar wheel loader used to move logs. The company was not charged in relation to his death but with general breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act in relation to the management of operations in the yard.
The court were told that the accident occurred as a result of the fact that pedestrians were not properly segregated from where the machinery was working. The company did have a traffic management plan in place including a designated walkway across the timber yard, but had failed to ensure that employees also used it.
The case demonstrates the importance of pedestrian and traffic management systems as part of the overall safety management systems.
The full report can be read here
