Waste removal companies have been warned by a judge of the "high duty of care" they owe the public over the placement of skips. Circuit Court President Mr Justice Esmond Smyth held that Dean Waste Co Ltd, trading as A1 Waste, of Greenhills Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, had been partly responsible for an accident in which a charity fundraiser, Ms Grainne Keevers (33), of Avondale Road, Phibsborough, Dublin, was injured.
He said that skips must be placed in the best and safest place within a reasonable distance of the customer's home or place of business - and not necessarily directly beside or outside the premises.
Mr Justice Smyth also warned of the need for skip delivery contractors, prior to placement of a skip, to take into account normal traffic conditions, the effect on traffic which the parking of a skip would have and its effect where car parking on the opposite side of the road might take place. Mr Justice Smyth told Mr Richard McDonnell, counsel for Dean Waste, that he considered Ms Keevers 75 per cent responsible for having driven into the skip which, at the time, had been angled two feet out from the footpath. He said that on her "very honest evidence" she had been paying attention to traffic on the roadway and had not seen the skip. It was clear from the evidence that the skip could have been deposited in a safe spot 60 feet away. Mr Justice Smyth adjourned the assessment of damages to await further medical reports.