ACCIDENTAL DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 56, 7 March 1929, Page 8

ACCIDENTAL DEATH.

LABOURER KILLED AT WORK. STRUCK BY FALLING BUCKET. The death of James O'Sullivav was found yesterday by the coroner, Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., to have been due to injuries received accidentally. O'Sullivan died in the Auckland Hospital on the evening of February 2 a« the result of injuries received when a bucket of 3iot bitumen fell upon him while he was working on a new building in Wellesley Street. Mr. J. J. Sullivan appeared for Mrs. O'Sullivan and Mr. Weet represented the contractors, the Fletcher Construction Co., Ltd. Evidence by O'Sullivan's workmates showed that the hot bitumen was being raised to a height of 70 feet in buckets, two bucket* being raised at a time. When two of the buckets reached the top, part of the gear struck an obstruction and one bucket was torn loose. It fell on O'Sullivan, striking him in the email of the back ae he wa« bending. The buckets, according to F. R. Green, ■who said he was standing on the ground helping to put the bucket* on the winch, were securely hooked on. They were old oil drums converted, with a handle- of steel inserted in holes below the rim. In the bucket which etruck O'Sullivan, the hole where one end of the handle wae inserted was ripped to the rim. John Matthew Murdoch also described the bucket, and said that, 'he wae not prepared to etate whether the metal had split prior to the fall of the bucket or as the result of the fall. In answer to Mr. Sullivan, Murdoch said he regarded this type of bucket ae sufficiently strong, if it were properly made. In giving hie verdict, Mr. McKean eaid that the buckets in uee appeared to be of fairly substantial material and in ordinary circumstances there phould be sufficient metal to take the weight carried.