A man who was injured when a conveyor bench fell on him has been awarded €257,000 compensation for an accident in a meat factory by the High Court.
The plaintiff – a resident of County Tipperary – was employed at the AIBP meat processing centre as a cleaner who washed the knives and trays which had been used by the butchers when, in 25th May 2007, he was asked to help a colleague move a meat conveyor bench.
As he and his colleague moved the bench onto two trolleys to move the equipment, the bench dropped on him, striking him on the head. The plaintiff was taken to hospital, where he received treatment for a severe head trauma but, due to the nature of his injury, he has been unable to work since.
The injured plaintiff claimed compensation for an accident in a meat factory on the grounds that he had been placed in a vulnerable position and in a situation for which he had not been trained or instructed adequately. However, his employers denied their liability and, according to Mr Justice Iarflaith O’Neill, took an “antagonistic approach” towards their employee´s situation.
After hearing evidence at the High Court, Mr Justice Iarflaith O’Neill said that a “trivialised and an inaccurate account” of the accident had been fed in to the company’s accident reporting system and that the significance of the plaintiff´s injury had never been appreciated by his employers.
Finding in the plaintiff´s favour and awarding him €257,000 compensation for an accident in a meat factory, Mr Justice Iarflaith O’Neill said that he had believed the plaintiff´s account of how the accident had happened, and was satisfied that he had not been “malingering” since 2007 as had been alleged by the defence.