A Tipperary employer has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to breaches of the Safety Health and Welfare at work Act and Health and Safety Regulations.
The legal actions follow the death of a 22-year-old employee in 2016 after an accident involving a telehandler. The sentence was handed down by Judge John Martin at Clonmel Circuit Court yesterday. The deceased man was Sam Taylor from Newcastle in the UK.
On 26th June 2016, a telehandler which was being used to carry out work on a farm at Coleman, near Fethard, went out of control and overturned. As a result, an employee suffered fatal injuries and another employee suffered serious injury.
The employer, who was the farm owner and the owner of the telehandler, failed to manage and conduct work activities in such a way as to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of his employees. The Health and Safety Authority investigation also found that the employer failed to maintain the telehandler in such a way as to reduce risks to the users of the telehandler as it was in a dangerous condition, unsafe and unfit for use in that the brakes, accelerator cable, transmission selector, cab door and seat belt were not maintained.
