On 25th June 2019, at the Nenagh Circuit Court, Judge Tom Teehan imposed a fine of €300,000 on the company Balfour Beatty CLG Limited for a single breach of health and safety legislation. They had earlier pleaded guilty to a breach of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 - specifically on exposing non-employees to risks to their safety, health or welfare.
The prosecution took place after a fatal incident at Carrigatogher, Nenagh, Co Tipperary occurred on 27 February 2015. The employee of a company, Mr Patrick Horgan, who was subcontracted to carry out work for Balfour Beatty CLG to install a 4000mm gas pipeline from Birdhill to Nenagh, was fatally injured when the pipeline he was working on ruptured while it was under test pressure, which resulted in an explosion.
Balfour Beatty CLG Limited had previously pleaded guilty to a single charge - it had failed to manage and conduct its undertaking in such a way that non-employees were not exposed to risks to their safety, specifically they failed to ensure that appropriate safety measures or precautions were in place to protect such workers from the dangers, those created by piping that had been pressurised for testing.
Are you wondering why we're discussing legislation in the Republic of Ireland? Watch this space...
