A JUDGE said yesterday that gross negligence and dereliction of duty by Clare County Council officials directly led to the death of council road-worker Tomas O’Grady.
Judge Gerard Griffin fined the council €50,000 at Ennis Circuit Court after it pleaded guilty to four counts of breaching health and safety regulations on May 17th, 2006, when council employee Mr O’Grady was “catapulted” from a nine-tonne dumper truck, suffering serious injury, at council roadworks on the main Ennis to Tulla road.
Mr O’Grady, a married father of four, died from his injuries two months later in hospital.
In court Judge Griffin imposed a one-year suspended jail term on the manager of the council road realignment project, Michael Scully (64), of Oakwood, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, who pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching health and safety regulations on the same date.
Mr O’Grady was not wearing a seat belt while driving the dumper truck. Judge Griffin said the council worker would not have died if Clare County Council had enforced the wearing of seat belts.
Judge Griffin said he was not calling the event that led to Mr O’Grady’s injuries an accident because his injuries “were foreseeable and preventable”.
Judge Griffin said: “It is very clear to me that from the top down, Clare County Council officials only paid lip-service to health and safety issues and this is borne out by the grave deficiencies exposed.” This was compounded by a lack of effort to redress the deficiencies in the immediate aftermath, he said.
The judge said an inspection of the site by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) the day after the incident found two council workers not wearing safety helmets, with Mr Scully also not wearing one.
“It beggars belief that, after the very serious injuries sustained by Mr O’Grady, that within 24 hours at the site, the HSA official discovered that there had been no instruction to wear a seat belt to dump-truck drivers and no instruction not to tip material over an embankment,” the judge said, adding that this resulted in the HSA closing down the site.
Judge Griffin said the gross negligence and gross dereliction of duty of council officials directly led to the death of Mr O’Grady.
He said the abject failure of council officials to prevent foreseeable injuries sustained by Mr O’Grady “must rest heavily on their conscience”. He said that, in mitigation after the incident, the council upgraded staff skills in the health and safety area, employing two safety officers.
Judge Griffin said Mr Scully, who has no previous convictions, retired early from the council and it was an ignoble end to an exemplary career. Judge Griffin also pointed out that Mr Scully was regretful and had shown genuine remorse for the death of his friend. Imposing the €50,000 fine on the council, Judge Griffin said he may be criticised for being unduly lenient on the council, but he didn’t see why the rate-payers of Clare should suffer for the dereliction of duty of Clare County Council.
Following the hearing the council said it “acknowledges the comments of the judge, including his criticisms, and notes that the judge has accepted that appropriate measures have now been put in place to ensure compliance with relevant health and safety legislation”.
