Kildare plant worker killed by lorry
An inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, Thomas Doyle said its investigation had resulted in a criminal court hearing that had concluded earlier this year
A MANAGER of a Kildare agricultural plant broke down in tears as he told an inquest how he identified the body of a long-serving work colleague who was killed by an articulated lorry leaving the factory.
Andy Barrett (63) of Newcastle, Enfield, Co Meath sustained fatal injuries when he was struck by the vehicle near the entrance to the Carbury Compost plant in Drummond, Carbury, Co Kildare at around 7.15am on the morning of 25 March 2021.
An inquest into Mr Barrett’s death at Kildare Coroner’s Court heard the married father of one was pronounced dead at the scene at 10.02am.
A manager, Donal Gibney, became emotional as he recounted how he and some other staff had stood and prayed over their colleague’s body after he had been asked to formally identify Mr Barrett’s remains to gardaí.
Mr Gibney told the inquest that he had known Mr Barrett for 30 years.
He described how he had received a call from another employee “in a state of panic” earlier that morning to say that Mr Barrett was “in a bad way at the side of the road.” Mr Gibney said he had contacted the deceased’s former manager, Michael Cusack, who would have known him for almost 40 years as well as his family.
An employee of Carbury Compost, Evinas Ruseckas, gave evidence of seeing something in the middle of the main gate just after a truck had left the premises that morning.
“I realised it was Andy. I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Mr Ruseckas.
The witness said he began CPR on the victim who had a lot of injuries including a badly fractured chest and severe head injuries until other help arrived.
“Andy’s left hand was shaking. There were no other signs of life,” he added.
The inquest heard gardaí were alerted to the incident and immediately made efforts to get in contact with the driver of the white Volvo truck in order to stop the vehicle.
Garda James Barry said the driver, a Lithuanian national with a full Irish driving licence, was contacted and had pulled in his vehicle outside Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan.
The inquest heard that a subsequent examination of the 200-MN-reg articulated lorry by a public services vehicle inspector found no defects with the vehicle that could have contributed to the fatal incident.
Garda Barry said CCTV footage from the plant in Carbury showed Mr Barrett walking towards where the truck was parked and into the vehicle’s blind spot.
However, neither the CCTV nor a dashcam on the truck captured the deceased walking in front of it.
The coroner, Loretta Nolan, was informed that the vehicle was fitted with six mirrors that were “clear, clean, intact and visible from the driver’s seat” and there had been no interference with its tachograph.
An inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, Thomas Doyle said its investigation had resulted in a criminal court hearing that had concluded earlier this year.
Last April, Carbury Compost, which is a subsidiary of Monaghan Mushrooms, was fined €95,000 at a sitting of Naas Circuit Criminal Court after it pleaded guilty to a breach of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.
The charge related to the company’s failure to ensure that there was a traffic management plan in place for the part of the premises where the fatal incident occurred and that no proper segregation of people, plant and machinery was implemented.
Based on the postmortem results, Dr Nolan listed the cause of death as multiple head and chest injuries due to a road traffic collision.
Offering her condolences to Mr Barrett’s family, the coroner said she would record a verdict in accordance with the findings of the criminal court.
