A waste company facing charges related to the death of an employee from County Donegal will be taken to trial next month.
McGrath Industrial Waste Limited, based in Castlebar, has been charged in relation to the death of Donegal native Daniel Meehan in December of 2018, as he was working on a refuse lorry in the town of Ballymote in County Sligo.
The firm has been accused of “failing to ensure the safety, health and welfare of its employees in that they failed to manage and conduct work activities, specifically the operation of a refuse collection vehicle for the collection of refuse wheelie bins, namely a Mercedes Truck refuse collection vehicle which was defective and unsafe”.
It is claimed that there were a number of defects on the refuse lorry that led to the death of Daniel Meehan, including defective footboards at the back of the vehicle that were not positioned correctly, as well as wiring that had been altered that led to the rear sensor systems on the vehicle not operating.
It is also alleged that the safe speed limiting system on the lorry had been disabled, and that safety barriers that would prevent an operator from entering the lift unsafe zone at the rear were absent.
The company is also charged with “failing to ensure the safety, health and welfare at work of its employees in that they failed to provide systems of work that were planned, organised, performed, maintained and revised as appropriate as to be safe and without risk to health”, as well as failing to “ensure the safety, health and welfare of its employees in that Daniel Meehan was permitted to work on the vehicle when the wiring to the near side sensor was altered”.
The trial will be heard at the next sitting of Sligo Circuit Court, on the 11th of January 2022.
