A man, who suffered a severe life-changing trauma when a meat conveyor bench fell on him, has settled his claim for compensation for a head injury at work.
The plaintiff worked as a knife washer in the AIBP meat processing factory in Cahir, County Tipperary, when, in May 2007, he was instructed to assist a colleague who has loading a meat conveyor bench onto two trolleys in order to move it elsewhere within the processing plant.
As the employee and his colleague loaded the meat conveyor bench onto the trolleys, the bench slipped and fell on him while he was crouching beneath it; striking him on the head and causing a severe head trauma. The employee received hospital treatment immediately following the accident but, because of the nature of his injury, the High Court heard that he has not been able to work since.
A claim for compensation for a head injury at work was made by the plaintiff after seeking legal advice. It was alleged in the claim that he had been asked to perform a task for which he had not been trained or instructed adequately and, because of his employer´s negligence, he had suffered the injury.
AIPB denied its responsibility for the employee´s head injury and claimed that the accident had occurred because of his own lack of care. However solicitors representing the employee pursued his claim for compensation for a head injury at work and the case went before Mr Justice Iarflaith O’Neill at the High Court.
After hearing testimony from both parties, Mr Justice Iarflaith O’Neill found in the plaintiff´s favour and said that he believed his account of how the meat conveyor bench accident had occurred. The judge commented that the accident had a major impact on the employee´s quality of life, but that AIBP had adopted an “antagonistic approach” to his situation.
The judge also criticised AIBP for recording a “trivialised and an inaccurate account” of the accident into the company’s accident reporting system and chastised the defence´s counsel for suggesting that the injured employee had been “malingering” since 2007. Awarding the plaintiff €257,000 in settlement of his claim for compensation for a head injury at work, Mr Justice Iarflaith O’Neill commented that the defendants had got this case “completely wrong”.