The High Court found that both a roadworks contractor and Dublin Bus were liable for a worker’s injuries after a bus ran over his foot at a Coolock roadworks site. It apportioned liability 80% to Dublin Bus and 20% to the contractor, Total Highway Maintenance Limited, and found no contributory negligence by the worker.
In a judgment delivered on 17 July 2024, Mr Justice Micheál O’Higgins found that the temporary traffic layout designed and operated by Total Highway exposed the worker to unnecessary danger. The available roadway was less than the three-metre minimum in Department of Transport guidance, and the court found the employer had breached that minimum. The worker had been instructed not to stand in the pedestrian walkway and operated the stop/go sign while perched on a concrete barrier, without a meaningful safety buffer.
The court also found the bus driver negligent. CCTV analysis put the bus’s speed as it entered the works area at about 28 to 32kph. The judge found the driver failed to slow as the road narrowed and steered too close to the worker, striking cones and knocking him down. The bus’s rear wheel then ran over his right foot. Dublin Bus accepted vicarious responsibility for its driver.
The judge rejected Total Highway’s argument that the driver’s actions displaced the employer’s responsibility. He found the design flaws remained a substantial legal cause because the risk of vehicles endangering workers at roadworks was foreseeable. The bus’s driving was the dominant and more immediate cause, but the employer’s failings also contributed. The court held the defendants were concurrent wrongdoers under the Civil Liability Act 1961.
The worker sustained a significant crush injury and fractures to his right foot. The court assessed general damages at €81,000 and recorded agreed special damages of €22,968.51, including medical expenses and loss of earnings. It entered judgment for a total of €103,968.51. The judgment does not state how the total award is to be divided between the defendants.