Swissport Ireland fined after fatal accident

Swissport Ireland Limited have been fined after health and safety failings which led to the death of an employee.

The employee fell from height on 25 November 2018 while carrying out cargo offloading operations without adequate or safe fall prevention systems or measures in place at Dublin Airport.

The company pleaded guilty and were fined €250,000 under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

The two charges were that the company had failed to:

• manage and conduct work activities in such a way as to ensure the safety of employees; and
• provide systems of work that were planned, organised, performed and maintained.

Mark Cullen, Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Health and Safety Authority commented on the prosecution:

"Working at height is a well-known risk across all sectors. It is vitally important that employers manage and conduct working at height activities to ensure that the safety, health and welfare of their employees carrying out the activity are able to do so safely. As can be seen from this particular case, employers who fail to do so significantly increase the likelihood of a tragic event occurring to one or more of the employees. This tragic incident was foreseeable and preventable."