This article is from page 24 of the 2008-12-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
THE owner of a timber firm lost his life in an industrial accident in east Clare, when a machine he was work- ing on overturned on him.
Noel Reilly (49) – a native of Cavan but who had lived in Feakle – died at Lough Graney Stakes at Leighurd, Caher, on the morning of August 6 last, an inquest into his death has heard.
Mr Reilly’s first cousin Sean Mc- Donnell told Ennis Coroner’s Court he received a phone call from An- thony Naughton, telling him that Mr Reilly was trapped under a machine. He went to the plant, where he saw Mr Reilly’s body trapped under a machine.
Another witness, Seamus Naugh- ton, said that Mr Reilly had been loading trailers with timber waste for about an hour that morning. At one stage, Mr Naughton glanced over his shoulder and saw the top of the arm of a machine moving in a way that wasn’t right. He then saw the ma-
chine capsizing.
“T went down and touched Noel. His face was purple and I knew he was dead,” he said.
Garda Pat McGrath told the in- quest that gardai attended the scene of the accident that morning. Gardai had been told that the owner of the plant had been thrown from a H1- tachi tracker machine and had died. Three employees were on the site at the time.
Pathologist Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy carried out a post mortem examina- tion on Mr Reilly’s body. She said that death was due to cardio respira- tory arrest, secondary to traumatic WN elove-len(emerMUneMDAY IEDM (oKe
Coroner Isobel O’Dea said the ac- cident was “very tragic and sad” and said the only possible verdict was one of accidental death.
She said it must have been particu- larly traumatic for the workers who saw the accident happening, but were powerless to do anything about it. The jury returned a verdict of ac- cidental death.