Kildare worker killed by packing machines had never been trained, inquest hears

A KILDARE meat factory worker who suffered fatal injuries six years ago after part of a vacuum packing machine closed on him was never trained how to use the equipment, an inquest has heard.

Binak Cokaj (54), a packer at Kildare Chilling Company on Curragh Road, Kildare Town died in the incident at his workplace on 14 May 2020.

Mr Cokaj, an Albanian national and married father of two who was residing at the Hazel Hotel, Monasterevin, Co Kildare, was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

The inquest heard gardaí were alerted to a worker getting trapped in a machine at the plant shortly before 10am.

Garda Kevin Flynn said the injured man was lying next to the machine and receiving medical attention from an ambulance crew when he arrived at the scene.

Garda Flynn said he could see that the victim had suffered severe trauma to his head, while he had also noticed blood on the machine.

He said a manager at the plant, Frank Kelly, who was the first on the scene, said Mr Cokaj had been cleaning the equipment when it appeared to have closed on him.

Garda Flynn said the injured man was pronounced deceased at 10.31am.

A supervisor in the plant’s boning hall, Jack Dempsey, said he was alerted to an incident and knew it was serious as the victim’s eyeballs were “hanging out.” Mr Dempsey said the deceased had been working on the machine to check packing bags were sealed properly for several months.

He described Mr Cokaj as a “happy-go-lucky” individual who seemed very good at his job.

The inquest heard that an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority established that there was a problem with a Cryovac VS95 vacuum packing machine which had been in use since 2000.

A HSA inspector, Thomas Doyle, said the provider of the equipment, Sealed Air Limited, did not have a maintenance contract as all maintenance work was carried out “in-house.” The inspector said the HSA investigation had established that Mr Cokaj had never been trained on the machine or instructed how to use it.

Mr Doyle said the usual operator of the machine had carried out a visual examination of the equipment on the morning of the fatal incident and it had been operating as normal.

He said gardaí had found that the CCTV system in the boning hall had not been working at the time of the accident and had not been functioning for some time.

Mr Doyle said part of the equipment showed evidence of corrosion and pieces of the machine were removed for further examination by a specialist consultant.

The witness said the failure of a safety switch was linked to the extensive corrosion of an aluminium plate.

Mr Doyle said the corrosion had resulted in the separation of an actuator from the plate.

He explained that it meant the safety switch did not function in the event of someone opening the door to the machine.

Mr Doyle said this allowed “circumstances to arise whereby a fatal accident took place”. 

The witness claimed Kildare Chilling Company would have been aware of the defect as it had already replaced part of the equipment as it had to re-engineer the attachment for the actuator due to corrosion.

“They failed to act on this information by informing the manufacturer or by addressing the incidents,” said Mr Doyle.

Kildare county coroner, Loretta Nolan, said the result of a postmortem showed Mr Cokaj suffered fatal head injuries, secondary to crush injuries as a result of a workplace incident.

Dr Nolan recorded a verdict in accordance with the findings of a related criminal prosecution.

Last January, Kildare Chilling Company was fined €225,000 at a sitting of Naas Circuit Criminal Court after it pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005.

The charges related to the company’s failure to properly maintain the vacuum packing machine and plan sufficient inspections on the equipment as well as failing to address issues with corrosion on the machine.

The company also accepted it had failed to ensure that specific instructions were carried out when exceptional circumstances arose in relation to the machine.

Kildare Chilling Company had previously been fined €400,000 at a sitting of the same court in January 2022 following the death of another employee who was struck and crushed by a mobile forklift truck at the plant in February 2018.

Mr Cokaj’s family settled a High Court action against the company for €700,000 in November 2025.