Pothole Crew Suspended for Fixing Pothole

Three County Cork road workers were returning from a job in Carrigaline, Ireland, when they saw a pothole. They stopped and repaired the pothole. A Health and Safety worker saw them, and the three men were consequently suspended from their jobs because they had not filed the proper paperwork for this particular pothole before repairing it.

Councillor John Mulvihill Snr, a former mayor of Cork, said health and safety was of vital importance.

He said that in recent times three road workers had died in accidents. The result was that the council was enforcing legislation rigorously.

"Health and safety is number one and you cannot put people's lives at risk," he said.

"The law says it was not safe. You need three or four people to fill in a pothole including two with 'Stop and Go' signs.

Mulvihill acknowledged that the three men had exemplary records and 90 years of experience between them, and suggested a warning could have been enough. The workers' union has gone to bat to protest the suspensions. More