Directors of two companies in a waste-recycling project in which a Polish woman was killed have been fined €80,000 for failures to meet safety standards in the workplace.
Theresa Kwiatkowski (44), and her husband, also Polish, had been working for Noel Murphy Waste Disposal Ltd as waste-pickers for three weeks when she was in a fatal accident on the premises at Sandy Hills, St Margaret's, Co Dublin, on May 8th, 2000.
Noel Murphy, director of Noel Murphy Waste Disposal Ltd, was fined €20,000 for each of three counts of failing to inform the driver of machinery involved in the accident of potential risk, failure to provide training and failure to bring terms of the company's safety statement to the attention of employees.
Séamus McCaul, co-director of McCaul-Murphy Waste Services Ltd, was fined €20,000 for failing to prepare a safety statement.
Costs and witness expenses totalling €3,400 have also been apportioned to them.
Murphy had settled civil proceedings taken by Ms Kwiatkowski's family with a payment of €175,000, paid out of company resources. Judge Michael White said this substantial payment was a mitigating factor, and the fines imposed by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court would have otherwise been greater.
He was satisfied that observing safety procedures had been a low priority for the defendants and did not consider their later compliance with safety standards as a mitigating factor. Ms Kwiatkowski had been a particularly vulnerable employee as she did not speak English. He extended his sympathy to her family.
Ms Kwiatkowski was manually salvaging timber from a rubbish heap when struck by the mechanical arm of an excavator. She suffered multiple internal injuries and died later the same day.
Insp Hilary Byrne of the Health and Safety Authority told Mr Patrick McGrath, prosecuting, that the Sandy Hills site was used by Noel Murphy Waste Disposal Ltd to extract recyclable material from commercial waste. McCaul-Murphy Waste Services removed remaining waste to landfill sites.
Trucks unloaded waste in the premises yard. Recyclable material such as plastic, cardboard, timber and metal were manually removed before a mechanical shovel pushed the remaining waste up the yard to a shredder.
Judge White heard that on the day of the accident, the mechanical shovel used to move waste up the yard was broken. At about 3.30 p.m. an employee of McCaul-Murphy used an excavator to free space in the yard for incoming waste.Ms Kwiatkowski was bending down to pick up material from the rubbish heap and was hit by the arm of the machine.
The driver did not see the woman until he heard her husband screaming as he ran to pick her up. She had been wearing a high-visibility vest, but the driver was unable to see her over the pile of three skip-loads of rubbish.
The driver told Ms Byrne that he had never been shown safety rules or been informed of risks. It had been taken for granted that he "knew the story".
Ms Kwiatkowski's husband told Ms Byrne that neither he nor his wife had much English. They were shown what to do by demonstration. They were not told of any risks or hazards and there was no safety statement on site.
Mr Tony Hunt, defending Noel Murphy, said his client had co- operated fully with Ms Byrne's investigation and was shocked by the terrible tragedy.
Mr Anthony Moore, defending Séamus McCaul, said his client wished to express his sincere sorrow to the woman's family. It was the first incident of its kind for the company, and any deficiencies, which have been rectified, had not been motivated by profit.