The Health & Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) investigated the operations of FP McCann鈥檚 Loughside Quarry in Larne following the death of William Houston in April 2023.
In the subsequent prosecution, Antrim Crown Court heard that on 23rd April 2023, Mr Houston was assigned the task of driving a dumper truck, removing stone from the cone crushing plant and placing it into stockpiles. At around lunch time, the cone crusher plant had stopped and a blockage was reported. The plant was isolated and a large stone (weighing approximately 45kg) was observed to be causing the blockage.
The stone was manually removed from the crusher and carried to a raised conveyor catwalk, approximately 15ft from ground level. However, during this move, the stone fell through the railings of the raised conveyor catwalk as Mr Houston was walking below. He was struck by the falling stone and died later in hospital due to injuries sustained.
FP McCann Limited was fined 拢110,000 after pleading guilty to a single health and safety offence.
Speaking after the hearing, Sophie Pearson, an inspector within HSENI鈥檚 major investigation team, said: 鈥淭his was a tragic incident. Employers must take adequate measures to prevent materials or objects falling from height. They must stop and consider what risks are involved in the task and take the necessary action, so that harm does not occur to employees, or as in this tragic incident, to someone like Mr Houston who was subcontracted to work at the site.
鈥淲here it is not reasonably practicable to prevent objects from falling, employers should take suitable and sufficient measures to ensure that nobody can be injured. A simple solution such as an exclusion zone can be easily implemented to reduce the risk to workers.鈥�