The High Court assessed damages of €110,000 for an ESB employee who suffered a serious left shoulder injury when he fell on stairs at work. It found that wetness and a problem with the stair nosing combined to cause the fall, and that the employee was not contributorily negligent.
In a judgment delivered on 10 May 2018, Ms Justice O’Hanlon found that Terence Morgan was a credible witness who had not overstated his complaints. Mr Morgan said he slipped while carrying post down stairs at the ESB offices on Avenue Road, Dundalk, on 30 April 2013. He said he saw water on the landing and first step after the fall and noticed drops falling from a skylight.
The court accepted that wetness caused him to slip, but could not determine whether it came from the skylight, a spill or another source. It also found a problem with the stair nosing, relying in particular on a photograph and the evidence of Mr Morgan’s engineer, Joseph Osborne. The ESB’s engineer, Greg Duggan, disputed that the stairs presented a hazard. The judge preferred the evidence of Mr Morgan and Mr Osborne.
The court found that Mr Morgan had not received specific training for the post collection task he had carried out over a number of years. It held that the accident was reasonably foreseeable and that the ESB had breached its statutory duty under section 8.2 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. Although Mr Morgan was carrying parcels in both hands and could not hold the handrail, the court found no contributory negligence, citing the lack of task-specific training and the fact that the regular task had gone unchecked.
Mr Morgan suffered persistent pain and restricted movement in his left shoulder despite injections, surgery and physiotherapy. The judgment records that he continued to work on lighter duties. The court assessed general damages at €88,000 and added €22,000 in agreed special damages, making a total award of €110,000. It also had regard to PIAB recommendations.