Court of Appeal upholds fine imposed on crane company following Limerick bridge drownings
A FINE of €25,000 for health and safety breaches imposed on a company which supplied a crane involved in an fatal incident in which two stonemasons drowned was not "unduly" lenient, the Court of Appeal has found
Bryan Whelan (29) of O'Briensbridge, County Clare and TJ O’Herlihy (36), of Castleisland, County Kerry died after the steel cage suspended over the river Shannon plunged into the water on August 29, 2015.
The two men and a third colleague, Paul Murphy who lives in Askeaton, County Limerick had been carrying out cleaning and repointing work on Thomond Bridge in Limerick city at the time.
All three men were attached to the basket by a safety harness. Mr Whelan and Mr O’Herlihy both drowned as they could not escape when it entered the water. Mr Murphy managed to free himself from his harness and was rescued.
Palfinger Ireland Ltd, of Church Hill, Cloncollog, Tullamore, County Offaly was fined €25,000 at Limerick Circuit Court on October 7, 2022 after the company pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The sentencing jurisdiction of the court was an unlimited fine.
Earlier this month, the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed what it said was the unduly lenient fine imposed on the company.
Shane Costelloe SC submitted the trial judge had "erred" in law and that the fine imposed was “simply too low”.
In a judgement delivered at the Court of Appeal this Friday, Ms Justice Tara Burns said the court was of the view that the sentence imposed was not a substantial departure from what was appropriate and rejected the State’s submission that the €25,000 fine was too low and should be increased.
Palfinger had supplied the crane in use on the day of the incident to Nationwide Crane Hire Ltd, Dock Road, Limerick in 2003.
Nationwide Crane Hire also pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the company was fined €200,000. The maximum fine the court could have imposed in their case was €3 million.
Limerick Circuit Court heard that a safety mechanism on the crane that was holding the metal cage containing the two men and their co-worker had failed to operate.
The defective overload protection safety device for the winch on the crane failed and this led to the winch snapping.
The prosecutions against Palfinger and Nationwide were brought following an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority.
The prosecution of Palfinger arose because a manual they supplied with the crane in 2003 had a “missing chapter”.
In dismissing the appeal, Ms Justice Burns said the failure to set a headline sentence before considering mitigating circumstances was not in itself an error in principle if the sentence actually imposed was appropriate.
She said the State had complained that the sentencing judge incorrectly treated the 12 year period before the accident in Limerick occurred as a mitigating factor.
However, she said the court did not agree that this was how the sentencing judge characterised the 12 year delay.
“It is clear from the sentencing judge’s remarks that he viewed the failure to provide that part of the manual as a significant breach,” she said.
“However, it is also clear that he was mindful of the fact that the offence occurred in 2003 and that for a 12 year period the crane had operated properly, safely and without incident and had also been serviced by the respondent.”
She said the court was of the view that the criticism of the sentencing judge’s approach in this regard was “misplaced.”
Dismissing the appeal, she said the court was of the opinion that the sentence was not unduly lenient within the meaning of the 1993 Act.