Engineering company and engineer acquitted regarding fatal accident

Hanley Pepper Limited, of Owenstown House, Fosters Avenue, Blackrock, had pleaded not guilty, through Mr Joe Ryan, to failing to design a system that was safe and without risk to the public at the Watermarque Building, South Lotts Road, Ringsend on dates between February 1, and February 28, 2002.

The charge detailed that the company failed to put in place an adequate support system for a staircase having regard to the load it was required to bear.

Mr Michael Jackson (aged 33), of Dun Emer Crescent, Rush, a Senior Project Engineer, had also pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

Mr Thomas O’Neill, 31, a construction worker from Lucan, died at the scene from crush injuries after a concrete staircase fell on him. Two other men suffered cuts and broken bones from which they have since recovered.

Judge Nolan heard submissions on the legislation surrounding the case from both prosecuting counsel, Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC, and defence counsel, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC (with Mr Luán Ó Braonáin SC), after he asked Ms Ring to identify what the State’s case was against the accused.

He ruled that in order for the particular section of the act to apply in the case, the work place in question must be constructed.

Judge Nolan said although the Watermarque building had been constructed "to some degree", he was satisfied that the evidence so far in the trial showed it had not been done so on the basis of the design that had originally been supplied by Hanley Pepper.

"Reade Engineering used the bolts they wanted to and not those advised by Mr Jackson and his employees," Judge Nolan said after hearing evidence from Reade staff that they were responsible for fabricating, providing and installing the steel angles and bolts for the site that would later support the concrete stairs.

Mr Tero Oksanen of G & T Crampton Ltd, the main contractor, said on the second day of the trial, that as site agent he had allowed bolts different to those specified by Hanley Pepper to be used and then on the day of the tragedy he hadn't informed the accused that these bolts had slipped away from the stair case walls.

Witnesses who worked at Reade Engineering at the time admitted that a recommended torque wrench was not used to fix bolts to steel angles but they are used by all staff since the accident.

Mr Stephen Cooney, a steel fabricator for Reade Engineering, said he would use either a short or a long bolt to affix the angles, dependent on which one he took from his pocket at the time.

It had earlier been stated by his foreman, Mr Thomas Ward, that a short bolt should only be used if a steel bar was obstructing a longer hole being drilled to fit the appropriate larger bolt.

Mr Ward said he visited the site a year after the accident and was shocked to see angles with two or three bolts when there should have been four.

When asked by Mr Hartnett why Mr Cooney, who had 20 years experience, "made such a mess" of the installation of the angles and bolts in the staircase, Mr Ward replied: "I honestly don’t know."

He said he later asked Mr Cooney what had happened and he just "walked away". He confirmed that he never got an answer from him.

Judge Katherine Delahunt fined Reade Engineering €15,000 in October 2007 and also fined G & T Crampton €50,000 in May 2007.

Michael Reade, managing director, pleaded guilty on behalf of Reade Engineering, of North Richmond Street, Dublin 1 that the company failed "to ensure that persons not in its employment were not exposed to risk of their health and safety" between March 14 and December 12, 2002 at the Ringsend site in that "16/10 anchors for the purpose of securing stairs support system rather than 16/30 anchors as advised" were used.

G & T Crampton, of Ballintaggart Road, Clonskeagh, pleaded guilty through its solicitor Peter Mullen to directing persons to work in the vicinity of the stair well in circumstances where it ought to have known that it was unsafe to do so.