Aer Lingus fined after accident at cargo warehouse

Monday 20th March 2017

Today in the Central Criminal Court Judge Martin Nolan imposed a fine of €250,000 on Aer Lingus Limited. On February 20th the company pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 12 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, contrary to Section 77(2).

The case arose as the result of an accident at an Aer Lingus cargo warehouse at Dublin Airport on November 5th 2014. Mr John Murray, a driver from Skerries, who was employed by another logistics company, was collecting packages at the warehouse on the night of November 5th when he fell from a loading bay and tragically suffered serious head injuries from which he passed away some days later.

The company (Aer Lingus Limited) pleaded guilty to failure to manage and conduct their undertaking in such a way that individuals at the place of work, who were not their employees, were not exposed to risks to their safety, health or welfare. In particular, they failed to apply their own written procedure for drivers, which should have meant that all drivers accessed the warehouse by a pedestrian stairs and doorway adjacent to the loading bay.

Brian Higgisson, Assistant Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority said: “With any large and busy multi-occupancy workplace it is important that employers are aware of their responsibilities to persons other than their employees. It is also the employer’s responsibility to ensure that all safety measures put in place are sufficient and followed in practice.”

Ends