An inquest jury heard yesterday that an experienced building worker died in hospital from injuries after slipping off a ladder at a Dublin house site. The death of Mr Kevin O'Brien (70), of Stanaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin, in St Colmcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, on August 31st led the jury to ask the Dublin county coroner to alert the Health and Safety Authority about details of the fall.
The coroner, Dr Bartley Sheehan, was told at Dun Laoghaire Courthouse that the deceased was a highly-experienced roof worker and was doing a job on a house on Brighton Road, Foxrock, on August 19th.
His fellow worker, Mr Gerard Kiernan, told the inquest that he had just asked Mr O'Brien to go for a quick tea-break. But as Mr Kiernan was coming off a ladder at the front of the house, he heard a loud thud. "I thought it was a bucket or an angle grinder which was falling off the roof. But I then ran around the back and found Kevin lying on his side with another roof ladder on the ground near him."
A pathologist, Dr Niamh Nolan, said death was due to respiratory disorder complicated by surgery following multiple injuries. The inquest jury recorded a verdict of accidental death.