The High Court found Topaz Energy Group Limited liable for a worker’s knee injury while she was stock-taking at its Clonshaugh service station, and proposed damages of €40,000 plus agreed special damages of €13,682.95.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 18 March 2020, Mr Justice Robert Eagar said the plaintiff had established liability on the balance of probabilities. The judgment records that she began work at the station in October 2016 and was a trainee assistant manager when she was injured on 28 January 2017.
The plaintiff’s account was that she injured her right knee while squatting to count newspapers and magazines stored on a low shelf behind the counter. CCTV showed her squatting at the front display and then partially squatting and kneeling behind the counter before she tried to stand. The court said the footage showed the latter activity for about two minutes, rather than the longer periods she had described. It concluded that the injury occurred as she attempted to stand.
Medical reports agreed by the parties recorded a bucket-handle tear of the lateral meniscus. The court described the injury, for the purpose of assessing damages, as equivalent to a moderate fracture of the kneecap. It also took account of pre-existing degenerative changes, differences in the plaintiff’s accounts to doctors and engineers, and her recovery. She had returned to work and was enjoying most of her social activities, but had not resumed hill-walking.
The court considered workplace safety guidance on lower-limb disorders, including risks from squatting and kneeling. It found that the employer’s risk assessment did not address lower-limb injuries likely to arise from those positions during stock-taking, and that the employer had not provided appropriate equipment to prevent the potential injury. The court said measures could have included mechanical aids, seating, shift rotation, foam mats or knee pads.
The judgment also noted that the plaintiff had received manual-handling and health-and-safety training, but that it did not address lower-limb injury risks from squatting or kneeling. The court concluded that the task required positions known to cause lower-limb disorders and that the risk was foreseeable.
The court proposed general damages of €40,000 in addition to agreed special damages of €13,682.95. The judgment does not state that the proposed damages were formally made into an order.