Ryanair was liable for a ground-handling worker’s back injury after he pulled aircraft stairs alone at Dublin Airport, despite training that required at least two people, the High Court has ruled. The court also found liability for a later recurrence of pain when a luggage conveyor locked, but not for an intervening baggage-handling incident.
Mr Justice Charleton delivered judgment on 22 November 2011 in the worker’s claim against Industrial Temps (Ireland) Limited, Dublin Airport Authority plc and Ryanair Limited. The judgment identifies Ryanair as the responsible defendant for the events described.
The worker was injured on 18 July 2008 while positioning stairs beside an aircraft. He said the rest of his team had gone to prepare a plane at an adjacent stand, leaving him to pull the stairs into place alone, as he had done on previous occasions. Engineers for both sides agreed that one person doing so was dangerous: the initial pull required 47kg of force, and keeping the stairs moving required 35kg.
Ryanair argued that its procedures required at least two workers and that assistance was available if requested. The judge accepted that this was the company’s stated training standard, but preferred the worker’s evidence that, in practice, employees were expected to move the stairs alone to keep aircraft turnarounds moving. He found the training standard had not been enforced and held Ryanair liable for the July accident.
The judge rejected the claim over a 12 November 2008 baggage-handling incident. The worker had returned to work after certifying himself fit, and the bags were within the weight his engineer considered acceptable for an able-bodied man. But the court accepted that a manual luggage conveyor locked while being moved on 14 November, causing a sudden recurrence of back pain. It found a deficiency in the equipment and treated that incident as an aggravation of the original injury.
The judgment records that the worker had pre-existing changes in his back but no prior pain problem. The judge found the accidents had caused years of pain and left him with an ongoing back problem at a worse baseline, while allowing that further improvement was possible. He assessed pain and suffering at €15,000 for the first two years and €25,000 for the future, a total of €40,000.
The court did not specify the final special-damages sum. It noted a net claim of €7,281 and said it would welcome submissions from counsel on the appropriate figure. The order was for €40,000 in pain-and-suffering damages, together with appropriate special damages and costs.