Trade union calls for meeting with Stryker management following second fire at Cork plant

Trade union Siptu has called for an urgent meeting with management at an American owned multinational following a fire at one of its Cork plants just a week after a fire at one of the company’s other plants left one man in a serious condition in hospital.

Siptu Sector Organiser, Neil McGowan said that Siptu members employed at medical device manufacturer Stryker’s three plants at Carrigtwohill in east Cork were deeply concerned about their safety following a fire at the company’s plant at Tullagreen which forced the evacuation of the plant.

The fire, which broke out at 9.25am on Tuesday, came just a week after an incident at Stryker’s nearby Anngrove plant, also in Carrigtwohill, on April 18th when a 41-year-old man suffered serious burn injuries while changing a vent on the roof of a building.

The man, who is from the east Cork area, was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he remains in a critical condition on life support while a second man suffered less serious non life-threatening injuries in the same incident.

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Nobody was injured in this Tuesday morning’s fire at the Tullagreen plant, but Mr McGowan said it highlighted the need for a full safety audit at Stryker’s three plants in Carrigtwohill, particularly in the wake of the incident at the Anngrove facility.

“Our members are seriously concerned about their safety and want to see immediate action taken by the employer and the Health and Safety Authority to ensure the company’s obligations to provide a safe working environment are being fully met,” he said.

Speaking in the Dáil following the first fire which led to the two men being injured, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the Health and Safety Authority were investigating the incident which he described as “very worrying”.

Responding to Sinn Féin Cork East TD, Pat Buckley, who raised the issue, Mr Martin said that “Stryker is a considerable employer of up to 6,000 people in that area. However, that is a separate issue from the absolute need to have safety for every employee within the complex.”

Mr McGowan said that Mr Martin had called on Stryker management to meet with Siptu representatives and he said that the union was again calling on local and senior management at the Carrigtwohill plant to meet with union representatives to discuss their concerns.

“We are again calling for local and senior management, including the Global Head of Environment, Health and Safety at Stryker, to meet with union representatives as a matter of urgency,” said Mr McGowan.

“There are three Labour Court recommendations stating the company should engage with SIPTU on these sites and it is no longer tenable for it to continue to refuse to deal with the chosen representatives of its staff.”

Meanwhile SIPTU Manufacturing Division Organiser, Greg Ennis said: “We have previously written to senior management, initially in June 2019, about health and safety concerns expressed by workers at the Stryker sites in Carrigtwohill.

“Regrettably, Stryker management in Carrigtwohill have refused to even recognise our correspondence, let alone respond to it positively. This is in contrast to our positive relationship with Stryker management at their plants in Limerick and Mallow, county Cork.”

Stryker in a statement stressed that it was committed to a safe and healthy work environment in all its facilities as it confirmed that there had been an evacuation on Tuesday morning at its Tullagreen facility in response to the activation of a fire alarm.

“All employees were safely evacuated as per our safety procedures, and local emergency services were notified and attended the facility. Out of an abundance of caution, the local authorities are conducting further investigations and we have sent employees home for the remainder of their shift”.

A Health and Safety Authority spokesperson confirmed the agency had been notified of the latest fire at the Tullagreen plant and had launched an investigation while the investigation into the incident on at the Anngrove plant on April 18th was continuing.

Cork County Council confirmed that it been alerted to a fire on a plant unit on the roof at Stryker Howmedica, Tullagreen at 09.25am and Cork County Fire Service units from Midleton and Cobh responded and quickly brought the fire under control with no reports of any injuries.

Stryker, which has been active in the Cork region since 1998, is headquartered in Kalamazoo in Michigan in the US, has six sites in Ireland including three in the Carrigtwohill Industrial Estate and is a major employer in the area.

Earlier this year, the company, which manufactures orthopaedic medical devices along with products for the treatment of brain aneurysms and strokes, won the Cork Business of the Year Award at the Cork Chamber Annual Awards.