An inquest into the death of a five-year-old boy who died when a mantelpiece and fireplace came loose and fell on him has recommended a change in Irish building regulations to ensure stone fireplaces are securely fixed.
The jury at the inquest into the death of Fionn Dawson, from Coolgreen, Glanmire in Co Cork, returned a verdict of accidental death at the Coroner's Court in Cork today.
Fionn died instantly when a marble fireplace at his family home toppled over and fell on him while he was playing near it on 30 April 2013.
Engineer Kieran Spitere, who examined the scene of the accident, told the court there had been mechanical fixings holding the two legs of the marble fireplace to the wall but there was no mechanical fixings or straps holding the mantlepiece which weighed 67kgs.
He told the court there were no building standards in either Ireland or Britain governing the fitting of fireplaces and there was nothing in the Irish building regulations setting out what builders had to do to properly secure fireplaces.
On the day of Fionn's death, the Health and Safety Executive in the UK issued an alert to builders to provide adequate fixings for all components of stone or artificial stone fireplaces after two recent incidents in Britain in which children had died.
Earlier, the inquest had heard that the family had contracted Absolut Homes in Cork to install a new two-way stove in their home in December 2013.
Carpenters John Connaughton and Shane O'Brie,n who work with the company, told how they had installed the new stove, and then re-installed the existing marble fireplace using the original strappings for the two legs, and using 'daubs' of Tec 7 adhesive to secure the mantelpiece to the chimney as is standard procedure.
Dr Margaret Bolster said Fionn had died from brain swelling, contusion and laceration due to blunt force trauma to the head.
She said his injuries were so catastrophic that he would have been knocked unconscious and died immediately.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she would forward the jury's recommendation to the relevant authorities including asking the Health and Safety Authority to issue safety alerts on the installation of stone fireplaces and alerting the Department of the Environment to the issues.
