Courts / Dublin / Report
Company fined €25k after death of photographer on construction site
Summary
In February 2018, a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court fined Felix O'Hare Contractors €25,000 plus costs for breaching health and safety standards at a construction site on Harbour Road, Skerries, Co Dublin. The company had failed to erect appropriate barriers, allowing amateur photographer Harvey Wolfe (54) to enter the site. Wolfe was caught between a hoarding and an excavator moving stones, sustaining crush injuries that proved fatal. The court heard Wolfe's mother, Patricia Wolfe, who expressed that her son would not want his death to harm his "comrades" on the site. Judge Martin Nolan noted the company's good record but stressed that Wolfe should not have been allowed on site that day and that stronger preventive measures were required. The Health and Safety Authority inspector highlighted the lack of interlocking plastic fencing and traffic control. The company has since increased its health and safety officers from one to three. Felix O'Hare Contractors pleaded guilty.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Company fined €25k after death of photographer on construction site. Charges or matters: breaching health and safety standards and failing to erect appropriate barriers on February 21, 2014. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- February 21, 2014 Hearing Or Sentence
- 2018-02-12 Publication
Why: Mr Kerins agreed with Johnathan Kilfeather SC, defending, that while Mr Wolfe had been escorted on site several times with the blessing of the company, there had been other times when he was refused access because of particular work taking place at the time. Defence account reported by CNI
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: breaching health and safety standards and failing to erect appropriate barriers on February 21, 2014 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: The company was today fined €25,000 plus the costs of the case.
Places mentioned
- Harbour Road
- Chancellor's Road
- Newry
- Dublin
- Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
Topics
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