The High Court awarded a worker €158,655 in damages after finding that he was injured by an electric saw while working on the Shannon Tunnel project. The award reflects a 25% reduction for his contributory negligence. The court also awarded costs against both defendants, including discovery costs and any reserved costs.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 7 April 2016, Mr Justice Twomey found that the defendants had been negligent in failing to provide a safe place of work. The court concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that the worker lost his balance on uneven ground while standing beside the saw. It also concluded that his fingers were damaged because his hand was too close to the saw during the manoeuvre and/or he had not properly used its crown guard.
The judgment said there was no eyewitness evidence and that the accident site had since been altered by completion of the tunnel. The worker said the concrete ground was wavy or uneven. The court noted that his memory of the accident, which happened eight years earlier, was limited.
The worker’s left hand was injured on 23 April 2008 while he was employed by O’Neill Brennan Limited to work on behalf of Strabag International GmbH at a site under the latter’s control. The court recorded that he lost half of his first finger and a third of his ring finger, with lesser damage and scarring to his middle and little fingers. His consultant described an approximately 30% loss of function in the hand.
The court assessed general damages at €100,000: €75,000 for the period to judgment, including psychological pain and suffering, and €25,000 for future general damages. After the 25% reduction, general damages came to €75,000.
Special damages were awarded for two periods. For the time from the accident until the tunnel project ended in July 2010, the court awarded €95,940, based on net weekly pay of €820 over 117 weeks. It considered it likely the worker would have remained on the project until completion. For the period from July 2010 until he returned to work in August 2011, it awarded €15,600, based on €1,300 a month.
The court made no award for special damages from August 2011 onward. It attributed the worker’s limited ability to work to tennis elbow, and said his consultant considered specialist treatment might have resolved it. The court also considered that he could have sought work that did not require the modified grip that might aggravate the condition. The final total was €158,655 net: €75,000 in general damages and €83,655 in special damages.