The Health and Safety Authority is carrying out a full investigation of safety standards on a Dublin building site following a serious accident yesterday in which a salvage worker was badly injured.
The worker, who was reportedly carrying a granite window sill, sustained his injuries when he fell from an old balcony on the fourth floor of a building on College Street which is being demolished to make way for a five-star hotel.
A spokesman for the HSA said all work on the site had stopped voluntarily after the accident, which happened shortly after 11 a.m. Two ambulances and a unit of the Dublin Fire Brigade were on the scene within minutes.
According to one witness, the injured man had fallen through the footway of a rusty steel balcony projecting from the rear of the partly-demolished building and on to a pile of rubble, which included several pieces of steel.
A Garda spokeswoman said later the man was being detained at St James's Hospital, though his injuries were "not life-threatening". A fellow-worker, who had attempted to save the injured man, was treated for shock at the hospital.
The HSA spokesman said one of its inspectors had spent most of yesterday on the site and would be returning today to continue the investigation, which includes an examination of the absence of scaffolding to the rear of the site.
It is understood that the man was employed by a salvage subcontractor. The main contractors are Walls, while the demolition work is being carried out by Tinnelly, acting on behalf of the developers, Treasury Holdings Ltd.