A construction company has been fined €40,000 and has been ordered to pay an estimated €12,000 of the costs of the investigation into the death of a four-year-old boy who was killed during work for the Ballymun Regeneration Project in 2001.
Joe O'Hagan, construction director for PJ Carey Contractors Ltd, Wembley, Middlesex, England, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on behalf of the company to a breach of safety legislation leading to the death of Alex Cuthbert on August 22nd, 2001.
Carey Contractors had initially denied six charges of breaching health and safety legislation but changed its plea to guilty shortly after a jury was sworn in for the trial of the company.
Judge Kevin Haugh said he was satisfied that Carey Contractors had "made the best-laid plans but were not diligent in the execution or the implementation of these plans". He was satisfied the accident was not caused because of the company cutting costs but by human error.
Judge Haugh said a construction site was like "an adventure playground of the young" and that Carey Contractors should have been aware, as was a well-known fact, that children are attracted to such sites "like moths to a candle".
Keith Foran, an inspector with the National Authority for Health and Safety, told prosecuting barrister Patrick McGrath that Carey Contractors had finished works on Main Street/Sillogue Link Road, when South Midland Construction Company, (SMC) moved on to the road to excavate a hole for gas works on August 22nd, 2001.
He said it was accepted that SMC had not signalled its arrival but when the Carey Contractors foreman was made aware of the excavation he sent drivers to fence the excavated area and ordered a dumper truck to fill in the hole.
Earlier in the hearing, safety inspector Mr Foran told Mr McGrath that a pick-up truck and the dumper truck returned to the area later that afternoon to remove the fencing. The pick-up reversed up the road while the dumper truck drove up the road.
When the vehicles reached the end of the road, a young boy called out to the drivers to tell them they had run over Alex Cuthbert. Alex was taken to Temple Street Children's Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Insp Foran said forensic evidence of both vehicles revealed traces of Alex's hair and blood on the pick-up truck tyres but eyewitness reports said the child had also been struck by the dumper.
Judge Haugh said he was satisfied that SMC had arrived unannounced at the site and that Carey Contractors then decided to make the Sillogue Link Road safe by fencing the excavated hole and then subsequently filling it in.
He said that extra precautions should have been taken to ensure children in the area were protected when the vehicles manoeuvred down the road and suggested that the passenger in one of vehicles should have acted as a lookout.
Judge Haugh accepted that Carey Contractors was a safety-conscious company, but said it should have patrolled and policed its work force more effectively on this occasion. He said the company should be penalised for the "somewhat casual way the vehicles were driven at the time" and imposed a fine of €40,000.
Earlier in the hearing Mr Foran said that a site induction statement signed by each of the drivers involved in the death of Alex clearly stated they were never to reverse their vehicles without assistance, but each driver had stated to Mr Foran that they had followed instructions as outlined in their induction.