A plant hire and construction company has been fined €600,000 over the death of a young worker who was knocked down at their quarry site. Photograph: Dave MeehanA plant hire and construction company has been fined €600,000 over the death of a young worker who was knocked down at their quarry site.
The court heard Shannon Valley did not have a safe system in place for refuelling vehicles outside of daylight hours, there was no traffic marshall on site and no designated area lit up for refuelling.‘I became a role model’: Mother completes the third-level journey only 1.4% of her community makes The court heard that, on the day in question, the driver of a digger witnessed Mr Miley approaching in his lorry around 6.40am, but assumed he was starting his work at another location. He was driving along when he felt a bump and realised he had knocked Mr Miley down.Conditions on the morning were wet, dark and windy, with low visibility, the court heard. Gardaí had difficulty accessing the scene as it was so muddy.
Passing sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said it seemed a “certain level of complacency” had set in on-site, leading to Mr Miley being knocked down. “This shouldn’t have occurred,” the judge said. Judge Nolan said he had no doubt the Shannon Valley directors were “conscientious people” and that they were devastated by the death of Mr Miley. But he said it seemed they were neglecting this particular site. He handed down a fine of €600,000 to be paid within six months. The court heard the maximum fine in such a case is €3 million.