Directors of two companies in a waste recycling project in which a Polish woman was fatally injured are to be sentenced by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today for failure to meet safety standards in the workplace.
Ms Theresa Kwiatkowski (44), and her husband, both Polish nationals, had been working for Noel Murphy Waste Disposal Ltd as "waste pickers" for three weeks when she was involved in a fatal accident on the premises at Sandy Hills, St Margaret's, north Co Dublin on May 8th, 2000.
Noel Murphy, director of Noel Murphy Waste Disposal Ltd, pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to inform employees of risk, failure to provide training and failure to bring safety terms to the attention of employees.
Séamus McCaul, co-director of McCaul-Murphy Waste Services Ltd, pleaded guilty to failing to prepare a safety statement.
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 that day.
Inspector Hilary Byrne, of the Health and Safety Authority told Mr Patrick McGrath BL, 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 then removed the remaining waste to landfill sites. Trucks unloaded waste in the yard of the premises where 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 Michael White heard that on the day of the accident the mechanical shovel used to move waste up the yard was broken. At around 3.30 p.m. an employee of McCaul-Murphy used an excavator to free space in the yard for incoming waste.
The deceased was bending down to pick up material from the rubbish heap and was hit by the arm of the machine.
The driver of the excavator 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 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".
The deceased woman's husband told Ms Byrne that neither he nor his wife spoke 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.
Noel Murphy has settled civil proceedings taken by the family of the deceased with a payment of €175,000 paid out of company funds.