Warrenpoint Harbour Authority fined following death of employee, Kevin McGeough

Today (Friday) at Newry Crown Court, Warrenpoint Harbour Authority were fined a total of £80,000 after earlier pleading guilty to two health and safety offences.

The Court heard that on 18 July 2019, 58yr old Kevin McGeough, an employee of Warrenpoint Harbour Authority was fatally injured after being struck by an industrial loading shovel that was being operated by another employee in the dockyard area. The Court heard that on the afternoon of 18 July 2019, Kevin McGeough was assigned cleaning and tidying duties, including using a power washer in and around Berth 1 close to the travel route of two large loading shovels that were being used to transfer wood chip from one part of the berth to another area approximately 150 yards away. Mr McGeough was struck and run over by a 20tonne Volvo loading shovel suffering fatal injuries.

The investigation revealed that workplace transport risks were not being adequately managed within the Port. There was an absence of clearly identified, segregated, and physically protected routes for pedestrians to safely move about, placing pedestrians at risk of coming into contact with moving vehicles. The investigation identified that, at the time of incident, the loading shovel was carrying 2tonnes of wood chip in its 1.69m high shovel bucket.

Prosecutors in the PPS’s Fraud & Departmental Section worked closely with HSENI and the PSNI to build a robust prosecution case.

HSENI Major Investigation Team Inspector Kevin Campbell said: “Vehicles at work continue to be a significant cause of fatal and major injuries in Northern Ireland.

“Effective control measures must be put in place and maintained. Such controls may be relatively simple and do not need to be complicated. Detailed advice on managing workplace transport risks is readily available to employers.

“This tragic death was completely preventable. HSENI will not hesitate to take enforcement action to ensure workplace transport risks are appropriately managed.”

Enforcement action was taken by Health and Safety Inspectors following the incident to ensure steps were taken to allow pedestrians and vehicles to circulate in a safe manner around the Port.

The principles of managing workplace transport fall into three main areas namely ‘safe site’ which ensures effective segregation of vehicles from pedestrians, ‘safe vehicle’ which considers the most appropriate vehicle for the task and environment and ‘safe driver’ which focuses on the competence and behaviour of those who operate vehicles.

Further information on the legal requirements of managing workplace transport can be found on HSENI’s website www.hseni.gov.uk/topics/workplace-transport