A personal injuries action brought on behalf of a worker who suffered brain and other severe injuries from an electric shock, after a steel lamp pole came in contact with an overhead powerline, was settled for €5.2m.

Before approving the settlement last month, High Court judge Ms Justice Mary Irvine heard that the worker was injured when a steel pole, which was being manoeuvred in to place on the ground, come into contact with a live overhead powerline.

The court heard that the injured worker, who was holding the pole at the time, suffered brain damage, burns and has difficulty in speaking. He has had to have some toes on his right foot and some fingers amputated. He is now confined to a wheelchair.

The action, on behalf of the injured worker, was taken by his mother acting as his next friend against his employers, the main contractors and another contractor on the site. It was claimed that his employer had failed in its duty to provide a safe place of work and not to expose the worker to a risk of danger. It was claimed the main contractor was obliged to ensure that the site was safe and without risk of injury to the worker.

THE ACCIDENT
Saying that liability was admitted and outlining the settlement terms, senior counsel for the injured worker told the court that the worker was installing steel lamp posts into sockets along a road on an industrial business park. He was working as part of a two-man crew. His colleague was driving a lorry and operating a crane.

During the course of the work, a steel lamp pole, while suspended from the crane and being manoeuvred in to place on the ground, came into contact with a high voltage powerline which had not been disconnected.

Following the accident, which occurred in 2008, when the worker was aged 19, the HSA prosecuted both the employer and the main contractor. Giving evidence in the Circuit Court about the accident, HSA inspector Frank Kerins said the young man and a colleague were in a truck which had a crane on the back of it. There were pre-dug holes on the site and it was envisaged that one man would lift the lighting pole off the back of the truck, while his colleague would be on the ground, guiding the pole upright and placing it into a pot inside the hole.

Inspector Kerins told court how the young man was on the road when his colleague used the crane to move the pole towards him. The young man had his hands on the pole when it struck an overhead power line with three phase current in it, causing the current to run through the man, with the result that he suffered catastrophic injuries. The current also travelled along the crane and caused slight injuries to the worker on the lorry.

Inspector Kerins told the court there were a number of ESB powerlines crossing the site. He told the court that “There were no goalposts or warning signs at the location where the accident happened”. If there had been goalposts, then any vehicle coming near the powerlines would have hit the goalposts first, not the powerlines.

THE SETTLEMENT
The court heard that after the accident the worker was in a coma, from which he gradually emerged over a four-week period. He suffered two heart attacks, which disrupted the flow of oxygen to the brain. He spent time in the National Rehabilitation Clinic. Since the accident he had been supported by his family. His mother had given up work to care for her son day and night. He had had some physiotherapy but it had not been available to him for some time.

Approving the settlement, Ms Justice Irvine said it was a good settlement and she had no hesitation in approving it. However nothing would ever compensate the worker or his mother for the injuries he had suffered but the settlement would go some way towards giving him a quality of life.

When the employer and the main contractor were prosecuted by the DPP (for the HSA), both pleaded guilty. Each company was fined €30,000. (Crabbe v Al Read Electrical Company Limited, Hydro Excavation (Ireland) Ltd and Kilwex Ltd, High Court, Dublin, June 2013. See also HSR November 2011, pg12 for report on prosecution)

Source: Health & Safety Review